Locked
by Senn Rae
Summary: (Schul x RanAya story)
1. Chapter 1

Rating: Uhmm.. I guess it's just PG-13... though it may change.

Paring/s: Schu x Ran/Aya

Disclaimer: Well, I don't own White Cross obviously. Must I say more?

Author's Notes: I hope you like my fic. Reviews, comments, suggestions, flames even (though go easy, I just started-;;) are all welcome, either I can stop writing this or continue will obviously depend on the feed back I receive. Well, enough of my endless chatter and on with the fic.

Forgive typos.

WARNING: Spoilers for Gluhen. Fic takes place after the final episode.

/telepathic conversation/

"talk, talk"

_thoughts_

llllll -somewhere else, at some point in time kinda depends -;;

Locked

Chapter 1

Somebody must have died again tonight... 

A certain redheaded German said to himself. Buried in his own thoughts and maybe even drowned in the soul of the one he sensed to be dead floating in the air of Tokyo. He had been just lying down in his richly covered velvet bed. Completely still, he was staring up the ceiling, which looked at the moment the most interesting thing in the world at the moment to his green eyes. He glimpsed at times at the bathroom door in front of him and be happy that his room was fairly big.

Like his bed, the rest of the furniture was pretty, well, expensive looking. There was a desk by the large windows on the left, covered by a nice dark colored curtain. Fluffy pillows is where the German laid his head, a table by the side of the bed with a lampshade that was on, but it's light was dim.

He sighed loudly. He actually didn't really care about some dead woman or man. It was the fact that he was bored... And probably wishing he was the one who was spilling evening blood and having so much fun than what he was doing now, being bored out of his mind.

He needs to find something else to do than just stare at this 'very' entertaining ceiling. Then, a sudden train of thoughts plunged into his brain... This wasn't his, now was it? He was stunned at first... These thoughts... Beautifully remorseful paining memories, they flooded his mind almost too quickly for him to actually to block it from entering. But not like he wanted to block it. Images of a young girl being hit by a car, a very familiar one at that, thoughts of dead people sliced up into to 2. A galore of emotions of pain and revenge...

These are old no doubt... The much fresher batch was that of repentance, a wanting to go to hell very soon and yet not, probably to leave the earth soon is more like how it should be said. A killer... Who wants to be killed?

He grinned. He knew this person... Not only that, he was very close by and very unaware of all that is happening to him. He is a lost soul... The angel with black wings tainted with blood has lost his meaning to live.

Immediately, he sat up and got off his bed.

There was something far more to his liking tonight... he got lucky.

llllll

He didn't know where he was going. All he knew he was headed somewhere. Far away from everything, everything on this sick sad world.

After his mission, he had given his money to charity... He didn't need it. He didn't want it and he won't have single use for it... Not where he's going at least. He tried it once, to leave this place. The kid that lives in the streets back in that place where he had done his last crime stabbed him. The kid who probably was a mugger, a petty thief, he didn't care he was going to die there, he silently hope...

But then, some rather religious fellow saved him. He didn't hate it, it was actually good that the world had a slight bit of morality left the guy even paid for all the expenses and he interrogated Aya while he was still in the hospital including where he lived. The assassin being polite just gave the general address, which was of course his country, Japan. The good man then, insisting, paid for his flight back to where he should belong.

Belong...? 

The thought almost made him smile, laugh even.

He doesn't belong much of anywhere. His sister was awake, the very person that caused him to kill. He wanted her to live. Live happy, forever. He didn't want to leave her behind but... He knew she might be better without him. Her brother... No, no longer a brother... Something more inhumane... a killing puppet he had become, only for her. Now that it has become an old habit, and as they say... 'Old habits die hard.'

He was walking in the sidewalk near some small stores he guessed. He wasn't sure anymore because he also hoped he was walking in the street and very soon a truck will come by and hit him. But of course, it probably won't happen but it was never really bad to dream, was it?

He had but a blank façade on. Walking, thought drifting on the fact that he's been given another chance to live. A thing he didn't ask for but was able to get. It's ironic. The more you crave... You'll never get it. But if you despise it, it will come by and hunt you.

/Now, now kitten... You shouldn't muse on death too much./ He heard some voice in the back of his thoughts speak slyly. The Weiss redhead stopped in his tracks. How could it enter his mind like this? The only person he knew could that was...

_Schuldig.... _Aya hissed in his own thoughts. He heard the foreigner laugh.

/The one and only./ Obviously responding to the thought which the assassin didn't want Schuldig to hear. /It's been such a long time since I've seen you. And my you're still such a fine young thing.../

/Get out of my head./ Ran said in a impassive tone. He continued his slow strides to who-knows-where. He doesn't have to talk to this creep...

/That's cold, Aya... But I guess... That's what make you so attractive./ He couldn't see the German. But he knew he would be giving him one of those grins he disliked so much. He ignored it. /If you keep walking around like that you might fall into a manhole./ The mind reader said somewhat concerned and at the same time amused.

/Like you care./ Aya once again retorted coldly.

llllll

He watched him just walk. He in his trench coat and odd clothing.

Not caring to look at anything else. He just stalked him from the rooftops of the stores as they walked. He can't just jump there right in front of him and kidnap him and get rid of the assassin's urge to kill himself. No. He needed a plan and he had to think fast. But first... At least let the little kitty know where he's at.

/Kitty, can you look up?/ Schuldig requested. Oddly, before Ran could think of anything else. He looked up and saw Schuldig there on the rooftop in his... Well, he wore a hat and pants a thin jacket and under was a shirt, usual Schuldig like clothing. As Aya stopped the German winked at the Aya who glared back. How could he just look up like that? Doubt the other redhead used in sort of mind controlling skills; even at Aya's state he isn't that weak.

Is it possible that he wanted to see how good Schuldig looked too?

He shook the thoughts out of his head before the mind-reader can read it and kept at his unemotional pace. But the German had caught a glimpse of it and smirked.

/Aww.. Aya, how sweet. You love me too./ The stalker teased.

/Shut up. I have no idea what you're talking about./

/Oh don't deny it, my kitten... Submit to your own emotions./

/Didn't I already tell you to keep your mouth shut?/

/Really? I remember "Shut up" but I don't remember "keep your mouth shut"./

/Did it ever occur to you that they mean the same thing?.../

/Nope. Oh my, my Japanese vocabulary must be failing on me.../ The mind-reader mocked and the assassin fumed with annoyance. Schuldig found this most amusing. Aya was indeed very beautiful but what made it more intriguing was that even after such a long time Schuldig didn't have the will to go back into his place he wanted to watch this cat forever. He really needed a plan to somehow get him back on his feet. He was in a bad mental condition no doubt and not only that but physically exhausted as well.

/Damn y-.../

"AAHHH!! LOOK OUT!!!" Someone screamed.

Before the thought could be completed... A scream of brakes was heard and echoed around the area.

TBC..

R&R!

Sorry for typos! Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Author's notes: Thank you for the reviews. Yeah... I'm so happy. You make my day. Thanks. And I know I did uncheck that box before I posted anything... But I'll check that again. Weeee!! And I'll reply to those later.

Forgive typos.

Warning: Spoilers, Shounen-ai, and.... OOC-ness

Disclaimer: I don't own Weiss Kruez.

/telepathic conversation/

_thoughts_

"talk talk"

llllll -some other time and/or place

Locked

Chapter 2

It was a long lull at first. Violet eyes staring at the scenery before him, a car just rammed into some man not that far in front of him. The stranger's blood splattered on the pavement and his body in such a dislocated manner just lying there on the road. The driver got off his vehicle and started dialing numbers in his cellphone, calling an ambulance.

Before the assassin can actually recover from the shock there came in an echo of sirens. His eyes became unfocused; he had been easily drowned in the corners of his mind. Did he want to die like that? He had willed a while ago that a car would just ram into him and his life would end. Now that he had seen it happen... Was he having second thoughts?

/I thought you wanted to die...? Changing your mind?/ The German purred. Making him twitch in frustration, he hated the fact that the mind reader can easily just slip into his mentality. Then Aya went on walking and avoiding conversation with the telepath as much as possible.

llllll

Schuldig waited for his opportune moment to strike. Following the other man may be fun, but then if it will last much longer he'll probably just jump down, grab him, and run away... which is actually not a very bad plan. But he needed a much better rooted strategy.

He peeped down and saw the blade wielder not far from the building he was on. Aya saw him a while ago... But then he had changed his position and probably Aya had now lost track on where the Mastermind was now hiding. He grinned at the notion of it...

It triggered the idea of attacking at that instant. He swooped down from his hiding place... now he was in the same ground level as his prey. He may have lost the advantage of his terrain but had stealth and can easily just sneak-up on him without him noticing. But there were too many eyes that could see. He had to wait now, silent and hidden yet still gazing at his beautiful victim. Now it all depends in timing.

llllll

The former Weiss member can't help but feel even more uncomfortable as he walked on endlessly. For one thing, the German suddenly disappeared which was actually a good thing but... was it in his nature to give up so easily? Aya walked into what looked like an alley. The usual dumpster by the wall and on top of it was the fire escape. It was slightly foul smelling, some mix of dead animals and rotting vegetables. There was barely any light and the set had an eerie silence to it all.

Now he really knew he was being watched.

He stopped and looked around, scanning the area with all his senses. Then continued strolling, but then to have stopped again feeling even more fidgety every second he could run but then he was exhausted.

_Shit... _He hissed in his mind. He actually remembered that the sword of his was trapped in the building and the only actual weapon he had with him was a dagger. Not only that, he hasn't slept in 2 days. _Perfect... First the German... And now this..._ He was even more sensitive now. Every stride he took, he took the deliberation that some blood-hunting freak was breathing down his neck. Awaiting him, just when his tension was gone the vampire like person would grab him and suck all the lifeblood out of him.

/I'd never do that... That's really lame of you, Ran.../ He heard the oh so familiar voice in his brain.

_Shit! _The redhead turned back, but then before he could even mutter a curse he had felt surge of pain surround his abdomen. And the next thing he knew he lay in a pit of darkness.

llllll

"Are you sure he's alive?!" Persia shouted, voice sounded like it was relived and shocked. He was in his office a very big one but was somewhat dark and the only great source of light was the blinds behind him. Sitting on his chair and leaning on his desk. He had a personal computer and a picture of himself and three very special people. Wearing grayish colored business clothes, his hair neat and short and he looked very young.

A man just around his age was standing in front, a much more sophisticated composure hair covering his right eye. Wearing a suit but with tight pants, he nodded at the man on chair.

"Not 100 percent. But then there were no reports about a with red haired man in the streets that was dead or anything. He must've been saved and if he was brought into a life death situation if he flew back to Japan he must've used a different name." He paused. "What do you think?" He looked at Mamoru with a serious face, a little hint of curiosity. The older man covered his mouth with his had and leaned his elbow on the desk. Judging on how to act and when.

He had missed the redheaded partner of his. He hadn't seen him in months, he also frequently reminded of the other two. His friends, probably even brothers now, the blonde play boy, the soccer addict and of course the impassive leader of theirs, Aya. But he had no idea where all of them had gone. Dead? Alive? Starving somewhere? Maybe even married? Even with the advance technology of today he couldn't track them down anywhere. Still keeping his position but moved his eyes to gaze at his prized picture of all four of them, happy and together.

"We should look for him." He replied. And leaned back on his chair, smiling and remembering the good times of that past life, the times where there was no blood spilling. He will find him and maybe even Ken and Yohji as well. He smiled. "He's out there somewhere... And I want to see him... even just one last time."

llllll

He awoke from a timeless slumber... At least his clothes were still on and he hadn't been stripped bare. Just the trench coat of his was missing and he made a mental note to look for it later.

It was somewhat early in the afternoon. He was under the covers of fine velvet. His fatigue had faded away and he was more relaxed and heck yeah the bed was helping a lot. As well as the relaxing air that surrounded the dimly lighted place. He hadn't laid down on such a comfortable position in the longest of time. All he had been doing lately was...

He frowned at the reminiscence of it.

He sat up and looked around the room. It was... well very rich looking and quite big. But wait a moment... Where exactly is he? The place was wonderful but... Who had the guts to actually kidnap him? He closed his eyes and started recalling... _Alley... Dark... Freaky idea of blood sucking demon... Schuldig..._ His eyes opened at the awareness. The German... he was in the territory of an enemy.

"Thank you for welcoming me, my kitten. Although I wished you were still sleeping so I can stare at your beautiful face as you rest... but you being awake is even better." A voice was heard at the entrance of the room. The door gave a loud click as it was closed. There were only small thuds on the carpeted floor as the German took a few strides to stand in front of him. The foreigner smiled. "Miss me?"

Speak of the devil...

"Hell no." Ran replied monotonously, giving the telepath in front of him a cold stare. This tormenting thing... Since when had he become 'HIS'? Since last night? Hell, the thought of it was already making blood flow out of his ears so the answer to that would have to be... NO. The other redhead's lips curved into a frown then unexpectedly into an even wider grin than the previous one that vanished moments ago.

"Fine, kitty... Have it your way. Since you're sitting on MY bed, staying in MY room, and probably gonna live here in MY house for sometime. I guess that doesn't mean your MINE..." he paused. "But of course... I'm just going to have MY lunch here in this room. And I know... that you wouldn't like any of it since it is MINE..." He exaggerated the mine and my and made it look like such a big word. "I know you wouldn't mind." He clapped his hands thrice. Then came 3 maids dressed in the usual French maid clothing, with them were tables of food. The German had them set the meal a little far from the bed.

llllll

Aya scornfully gazed at the German who was eating his meal with such satisfaction. He was now munching on a very well marinated chicken leg. He has several other cuisines on the table as well a lighted candle held by a gold candleholder. The past assassin on the bed can feel his mouth water slightly and his stomach call for food.

He cursed under his breath. The German looked at him and halted on his feast and smiled and went back to dining. Ran knew he knew he was starving... he just wanted some sort of... What do you call it? Apology?

"Umm... Schuldig...?" The starving redhead final broke the silence.

There was no reply. And the German just ignored him and ate on. This time on some pasta that he had twirled around his fork then devoured.

"Schuldig... I'm umm..."

Still no answer. The redhead felt his veins start popping out of several place around his head. Betting that the German already knew what he wanted to say... he just wanted to make him suffer. But then Aya's pride was against it... But... He had to pick...

Food... or... Pride...

"I'm sorry." He said in a soft voice.

Yep... he gave into the food.

"Say what?" The German said. Not really paying attention to him but at the fine strings of pasta wrapped around his fork.

"I'm sorry." Aya repeated in a moderate tone.

"About?"

Yep... that's a composure well attained and the well wasted."...That I was being mean even if you did bring me to your house and let me stay here while I was resting... And... I should be more grateful that you've treated me with such hospitality..." He looked away.

A wide beam had been painted on the telepath's face. He looked at Aya. "Would you like something to eat?" Ran gave a small nod. Schuldig refilled his plate with the Italian delicacy, stood up and walked with the platter on his hand. He sat at the side of the bed beside the other man.

Pause...

Schuldig brought the fork full of food near his guest's mouth. "Say ah..."

"Excuse me?..." Aya's eyes nearly fell off. He was thinking he'd hand the plate and allow him to have the liberty to feed himself. But can he actually expect that from him?

"You heard me, Ran-ran... Say ah..." The German said in a light tone. He brought the fork closer to **Ran-ran**'s lips but then the blade wielder moved back trying to keep it as far away from his mouth and digestive organs as doable. Like it was some weapon that would kill him if he touches it. No way he was letting this... telepath feed him. Not to mention the fact that it was filled with the foreigner's saliva.

"Hell no." He spoke. Making sure that his lips weren't open enough for Schuldig to shove the food down his throat. The German frowned, he put the utensil down on the plate. He looked angry as well as hurt. He probably read his thoughts. Aya felt his heart sink. He looks so... sad. The katana master gave a sigh. He opened his mouth a little... Schuldig then took the prerogative to get the fork tool back and feed him. He the took it out of his mouth to see the instrument clean of pasta.

Aya then munched slowly, savoring the flavor of seafood in his mouth as well as the chewy feel of pasta. It was something he had never tasted before in his life.

"It's good isn't it?" He held out another fork full of pasta which Aya, without hesitation ate. "My acting, yes?"

Silence...

"You evil German... you tricked me into eating your CONTAMINATED food..." Ran glared, his eyes dripping with malice. The realization... that's why it seemed like something petty to actually feel sad about. Especially for this now rated VERY EVIL telepath.

"I know pouting won't work... So I tried looking really sad. Who would have known it would work." He smiled. He held out some more pasta. "Ahh?"

Stare... "That's not funny..." The redhead was even more angered.

"Oh come on, Ran-Ran! It was just a joke! A good joke, you know? The one that makes you laugh! As in, 'ha ha'!"

Silence...

"I'm sorry. But hey, you have to admit, it still tasted good even if I ate from the same plate." He put the fork closer into his mouth. "Ahh..." Schuldig motioned him to eat it. "For me, please?" he sounded like he meant it... Ran then, slowly opened his mouth. And Schuldig then continued to feed him.

Aya knew that his life may change... either for the better or the worse... In the hands of this demon... or was he really a demon?

TBC...

Waaa... that was hard to write... I hope it isn't full of typos. Although I checked it twice... My vocabulary isn't that wide. –sniff-

Anyway, thank you for the reviews. From:

mahogany lampshade (who is actually my sub-author... got no idea why she review.. Guess she was bored)

RuByMoON17

DaredevilX

Gunning Angel

Tigermink

Abyssinian003

-I'll try to buy time to read your fics too.

And those who couldn't review... Hahaha Sorry, I really did make sure the box thingy was unchecked. It when I "checked" it it really was "unchecked". Maybe some sort or late reaction. Hahaha sorry!! But thanks Gunning Angel for the advice and pointing it out.

Anyway, I guess I'm done here. I'll try update fast. But not the quick because I made end up with a slump. Later.

Please R&R people. Flames are welcomed to the fact that they are mild in tone and language.


	3. Chapter 3

Warning: OOC-ness, and... other stuff

Author Notes: Thanks for the feedback! Here's the next chap!

Disclaimer: I DON'T own Weiss Kruez.

Claimer: I OWN YUSURU. So if you take her without my knowledge... I hope something bad happens to you. So please, don't take her. TY

"talk, talk"

_thoughts_

llllll- different place and/or time

Forgive typos

Locked

Chapter 3

It had already been a few days since Ran had been living in the household. Well, it was really big for a house but not quite big enough to be a mansion. The maids and male servants were very courteous to the blade master as he usually wonders around the corridors of the abode. There were lots of things to do in there actually and Aya never grew tired of the views it had to offer.

Although Schuldig had been quite protective about his guest... He didn't even want the other redhead to sleep in another room except with Schuldig. That fact made him feel slightly comforted and as well as even more stalked. He had tried sleeping elsewhere. The divan outside, the various guestrooms, even the roof but the next morning he'd have the telepath sleeping REALLY close to him. And... the telepath also told him not to go out the gates of the house. What are they? Married?

_Not yet... _Ran thought. Then the realization hit him. Did he just....? _What the hell is wrong with me?... _He mentally slapped himself at the idea and continued to think in his own little place within his subconscious.

In truth...

He had grown quite fond of the former member of Schwarz. Aside from the very kinky way the telepath would try to talk and touch him. He was very intelligent and there were topics, which they could both relate to...

Food, books, literature, sometimes about history although Schuldig got really bored with that, art works, and so on. He was a good man and had a sense of humor.

Aya had walked around the hallways, finding a new way to entertain himself while the other red head was out and doing his job... which he didn't know of but also made another one of those mental notes to ask the mind reader about it later tonight. Now he had a plan... Why not check the garden? He hadn't done that yet. He strolled toward the back door near the living room. Upon opening it he saw a very well maintained backyard. Plenty of classes of flowers bloomed at every corner. And a large tree that provided the good shade and welcoming a nice morning breeze as its leaves danced with the wind. He sat under the shady plant while staring at the flowers in front of him with a half smile on his porcelain face.

He had been reminded of his old companions. How were they? Alive still and living their lives as much as they can...? He had said that before, to take in even the harshness of tomorrow and live each day to the fullest. But... he was a hypocrite when it came to that statement. He had been secretly planning to escape the walls of Schuldig's home. Then... finally find eternal refuge. It won't be too long now... he just needed the time to think. Until that comes, at least try to repay the telepath in anyway he can. And try not to get too attached. What he really didn't want now was something that would link him to the world of the living.

He had used his mental barrier to block off Schuldig, all of his mental protection just for the deliberation of wanting to end his life. It was stupid, not only that but narrow-minded and selfish. But he needs to do it.

It would be better for everyone... if he had really never came to this world from the beginning.

He leaned on the bark of the tall tree. The wind still playing happily around with the motionless plants, as if searching for a friend. If there was a beginning... there must be an end. And a killer was no exception. A murderer... A killing marionette for the Takatori. He was nothing without the satisfaction of taking lives in general... Justice... for the good of tomorrow... They were fabrications of what lay beneath. Simply, selfishness... the will to stay living in this cruel place whether it was going to hurt and even kill people...

It had become something Aya no longer wanted to be part of. He was neither saint nor angel that worked under the sanctifying grace of God. But clearly a monster, a minion of hell and he knew there was no other identity that he was soaked in. He then looked up at the trees strong sturdy braches and green leaves. Although the tree was shady, there were places where the sunlight had penetrated its shield and hit the grass; this was of course due to the lack of closeness of the leaves. Then he remembered what a few of his victims had last said before he had stabbed them through the heart.

"_Why are you doing this?! Do you honestly think you can rid the world of its evil??!" _

They were right... they can't but he was sure he was making a difference. At least he thought he was... He himself had been no better than the killers. And for that he should be brought back to where he was born, in the underworld.

llllll

"Are we done yet...?" Schuldig complained. His arms crossed against his chest, looking at Crawford rather impatient to leave the area. They were inside a base, inside was a large monitor with the rest of its electronic parts and dead people on the ground. There expressions were peaceful; they were killed to quickly to feel anything.

Crawford was trying to tap into the mainframe, typing rapidly while only looking at the screen. Various pictures came up and info. Most of them was a picture of a girl, blue hair and big silver eyes. Fair complexion, looked only around 12 years old.

"Oooohh... Crawford is spying on little children... I see..." Schuldig said slyly. The sound of only the keyboard and nothing else was exasperating him more, he was now more eager to get home and see his... Ran-ran.

"Shut up. We're here strictly on business." Crawford replied monotonously.

"Ch' whatever... As long as it's quick because I have my 'own' business to attend to." Schuldig muttered. He stared at the monitor blankly. "... Why are we here again?..." He sensed the Oracle fry in his own anger. "Sorry. I tend to forget when I have other things on my mind."

"We are here to retrieve a very special organism..."

"Ahh... how scientific." Schuldig grinned. "What sort of special 'organism' is this?"

For a long moment there was only the sound typing and nothing else. Schuldig can always read the Oracle's mind if he doesn't say anything. But he sensed that this was something very important so he waited patiently for the reply.

"A necromancer."

llllll

He took a spoonful of food that was set on his plate. It was something he had never tasted before, it was again pasta with some very chewy meat on it. Its sauce tasted of tomato as usual red pasta was made of; it also had anchovies on it. But he can't quite get the texture of this specific meat product; it also has a salty fish taste. What is it? The dining table was for 12 people it was rectangular in shape. There was large chandelier on top that gave an exquisite yellow light. Adorned gold chains and studded with clear crystals. The walls were made of a wood-like decoration, which was finely smoothened. There was an opening in front where the front door was and the entrance to his left to where the kitchen stood.

There was a maid with green short hair right beside him in case he needed anything her name was Natsumi. The mind reader had introduced him to all the people of the household just before he left Ran that morning. He looked at his glass of water and sipped from it, thinking of what this food can possibly be made of.

He took another spoonful of the dish. Then he went back to reading a book he had found in the telepath's little library while strolling around again before he was called to eat dinner. It was a very deep story, about a woman warrior... Who fell in love with a very high profiled man who was engaged to a princess. It was at first a cliché as he read the back. But as he opened the first page, he was wrong...

This girl was actually from a family of a special occult but had been wiped out during a 'massacre' that her sister was in charge of, wiping out the whole family in the process. She, her sister, and her supposed 'husband' were said to be the only survivors of such a sad event... It was a very complicated storyline that he had been deeply interested in. Maybe it was because he was probing in the ending...

Would the woman warrior be together with the man she wanted to be whether it was forbidden? Or would she end up dead and heartbroken? Then he changed the subject.

What was this mysterious meat product? He ate on. He turned to look at the maid. "Natsumi-san," he spoke softly and she looked at him with a smile. "what is this called? What's this meat?" He showed her the meat in his utensil and ate it after.

"Master Fujimiya, that dish is called Putanesca. It has horse meat." She spoke kindly.

Silence....

"Natsumi?" A calm voice came from the lips of the red head.

"Yes, master?"

"Please get me a strong drink..." Slightly agitated. She bowed and turned around to get his order. She soon came back with a glass of wine, she handed the red-ish substance to him and he took and sipped. Then downed the whole thing, he returned to her the glass. _I ate a bloody horse... And no one even bothered to tell me?!_ "Natsumi..."

"Yes, master Fujimiya?"

"Next time, can you tell me what the food is made of...?"

"Of course." She smiled. And he sighed. He faced the table, and stared at his plate. She took it as a signal and took his half-finished meal from him. "I'll take this and replace it with something Japanese, ne?"

"Yes, please..." he sighed again. He then took his book and read on. Then he remembered something... Where's Schuldig? He looked at the clock to his right, and it was 9 in the evening and usually the German would be here by this time to somewhat remind him that he was hot and sexy. And other things like play with his hair and offer to bathe him, which Ran with not a second thought rejected the offers with a hint of the bashfulness tainted in his face. The thought of it would be nice but... ew. Ok now the digesting horse innards within his stomach must be getting to him.

As if on cue, he heard the front door open. He looked up from his book and saw Schuldig looking rather... disappointed. Aya tilted his head quite slightly; the telepath's eyes were cast down a little, his hands on his sides and a frown carved on his features. The darker red head felt somewhat moved by the unusual display of emotions by the mind reader as he just stood there.

"Is there something wrong?" Ran asked destroying the unwelcomed silence.

He received no reply. Just that Jade eyes were locked unto to his violet orbs. That made Aya even more confused; usually the greeting with would be something like **"RAN-RAN!!" **then the hug of death. Or something that was well related to the art of seduction but now it was just a long lull and looks of dissatisfaction.

"Oni-san... What's your name?" He heard a chillingly matured woman's voice beside him. He slowly, averted his gaze at what ever was beside him. He's head didn't move move, just the steady movement of fine amethyst orbs. He saw the figure beside him, a young girl her dark blue hair draped on her shoulders, a dress that of those dolls made to look like those children of the Victorian age. Her well formed hands placed behind her back. She really did look like a doll, her big sparkling silver eyes seemed to unreal to be a human's and such perpetual youth, when this 12-year-old had reached the age of 16 she might well seduce all the men who laid eyes on her.

He heard a sigh come from the German. "Don't worry, kitty. She's not going to hurt you."

Ran was in deep thought. He didn't want to move... It scared him that the fact that he didn't even sense that she had entered and she was there right beside him. How was that possible?... Even if he hadn't been training daily his senses are still sharp as to be compared to any of the great assassins.

"Nii-san.... What's your name?" Her voice was heard again.

"Aya." He answered with no emotion.

"That's a girl's name. Not your real name, is it?" She asked, still not changing her voice tone and facial reactions.

"Maybe." He replied. He turned his gaze back at the German who was in some kind of frightened but trying his best to keep it to himself. He was pale in color, as if he found out some horrible secret. Why is the telepath looking so off color? The girl cast her eyes Schuldig, then back at Aya.

"Funny," She said out of the silence of the dining room. "Safron says it's different." A calm expression was printed well and still on her face. Aya raised an eyebrow on the remark, he shifted his chair to look at her and the mind reader stiffened. Despite being all the way in the other side of the room, he was uneasy.

"Who's Safron?" The red head asked her and she gave a small smiled to dent her façade. He felt his heart hold its steady beating. Like her answer would kill him. Fear. That was the beckoning emotion within his soul that was screaming to be expressed. Her eyes of the moon's lining were one that could either bring you to heaven or burn you in hell.

"He is." She remarked and gestured at some hidden figure behind Aya. He turned his head but to his surprise and screamed... He saw something far from what he wanted to see. And it sent chills up his spine. What he saw... could rip even the most courageous of warriors throughout the land to cower into the lonely corner. And the wise turn into nothing but mediocre vegetables, there brains into shriveled up prunes as if the very knowledge in their skulls have been sucked....

Schuldig.

At the silence the whole room was filled with laughter. There were maids by both the entrance to the door where Schuldig had entered and the entrance in where Natsumi had used to enter and exit the room, several other household servants were laughing their heads off. And the green-haired maid herself was giggling. Holding what looked like a recorder

"Holy Shit, what the f-ck are you doing here??!!" He yelled at the mind reader tainted severely by the color of hot blood. Schuldig was laughing on his knees and holding his stomach and trying to stop his fits of amusement he tried to reply but as he looked at Aya he just laughed even harder, unable to answer the fired-up and embarrassed redhead. He took his opportunity to stand-up from his dining chair. "I'm waiting...." The sword master said with impatience and the aura of wanting to kill the German was very visible.

"Calm down, kitty... It was just some prank I made on my way back home from work. Which I contacted Natsumi for and had the whole household help set up cameras around the room." He laughed. And the other man began to twitch violently. "So even Yusuru decided to help. Isn't that right Yusuru?" Aya turned to look at the 12 year old as she nodded. The angered red head averted his death glare back to the German on the floor who smiled innocently back.

"That... wasn't funny..." Ran was still flushed from embarrassment. Ran had screamed and was frightened by but a now newly rated German as EVIL BASTARD and a child. Not only that he had been very secretly recorded without his consent. What if the German had taped him in the shower or while he was sleeping? Cross out the old rate it was now DISGUSTING STALKING BASTARD.

Schuldig chuckled. "Oh no, kitty. You're scream is very beautiful so don't be ashamed of it." With that he stood up, he leaned on the slightly shorter red head and whispered softly so the servants wouldn't hear it. "But not quite the scream I will make you do when we're in bed. Oh no, that one would be even better than any of the classical masterpieces..."

llllll

Moments later, Ran stomped out of the area blushing madly but despite that kept his dominant killing aura surrounding him, the servants keep a very large 6 feet radius away from his path. And he had brought with him the book he was reading, the booming of a door slamming echoed and sent tremors around the home.

Schuldig was left there with a rather large bump on the head. He was rubbing it in pain while he muttered German curse words. Natsumi had approached her master and assisted him with his wounds along with 3 more maids. He then dismissed his loyal servants all accept Natsumi, Yusuru has then been given a meal and she ate quietly beside the German who had a bag of ice on his orange mane. Sitting on the seat which the very moody swordsman had been on

"Was I being too mean, Natsu?" Schu said with a half smile. He was leaning on his elbow on the table where he laid his head. The green headed maid shook her head in disapproval. The German faced her amused at the reply. "What do you think about it then?"

"No master, I think Master Fujimiya is just very sensitive. But I think you're job would be to open him up to more things in life. Despite his cold demeanor, he is really to kind to a fault which is why being an assassin had dented the very fragile glass of his soul." She spoke respectfully. Her voice wise and sophisticated and well enveloped with compassion. "You should be much more careful when dealing with the way he feels, Master."

Schuldig sighed at the well given advice. Natsumi was the most well trusted maid in the whole abode. She was recommended by Crawford when the house was built and the American being one hell of a good friend gave him Natsumi, despite her motherly gestures, the maid was trained ninja as well as the other maids in the house and other male helpers. But Natsumi was well rated by Crawford it to at least to get the simple **"It's fine." **From that perfectionist was very hard.

"Thanks for the advice, Natsu..." He grinned. _This is getting to be very exciting..._ He looked at the silent Yusuru. Then at his green haired maid."Do you have that tape?"

llllll

A lone shadow sat in front of a computer. Typing something rapidly on the keyboard. It was almost midnight and he really needed to catch up on sleep. The monitor displayed a couple of pictures of Yusuru... while she had resurrected an old man from the very depths of his supposed undisturbed sleep. And how she was recorded to say the name 'Safron' and ask questions. She would look like some kind of cursed and forsaken kid but that wasn't far from the truth... she was more of a gifted child who had been in the hands of the wrong type of people for too long.

The man typed on, he grabbed the mouse and double clicked on a folder that was named, 'Gainel'. A smile crossed hid lips as he looked at the content.

::Yusuru Gainel::

::Experiment number: 000::

::Alias: Angel::

::Status: unknown::

The man scrolled down. He had found the angel... Now he had to find the demon that took her away.

TBC

Sigh... I think the middle was a little strange. Hehe, Sorry. By the way, Natsumi the maid/ninja is mine and so is Yusuru. Please don't take them. TY.

Please R&R. Flames are welcomes. (Be mild in the language)


	4. Chapter 4

Author's notes: Hehe. Sorry for the typos. It was because asterisk don't show up and stuff for me to sensor bad words... So ya, I'll use the hyphen instead. Thanks for all your reviews! And ya, if I'm not lazy... I'll TRY to edit my chapters... Although I'm not sure I will very soon... I'm so lazy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Weiss Kruez

Claimer: I own Yusuru, Safron and Natsumi. Please don't take them without notice. Thanks.

Please Forgive Typos...

Locked

Chapter 4

The next morning was filled with energy. It was bright, sunny and unusually perky. The birds were chirping happily their morning sonnet. The house was alive with the-

"Waaa!! Ran!! Talk to me!!!" The German's voice was the very earthquake to destroy the peacefulness of the sunrise. He was in the hallway trying to stop Aya off his tracks but the cold red head just ignored his presence and walked on. No way was he going to forgive this jerk.

Since last night he had not talked to him. The cold red head just continued reading his hardbound novel while the telepath tried to get him to listen to his apology that, obviously, was ignored. True enough, it was low for someone like Aya to be so angry about a seemingly 'well devised' prank to get him to scream like a woman in front of everybody. But the swordsman had more depth to his anger, he was so worried about how Schuldig's day went because he looked so sorrowful but then it was only a ploy to play around with his emotions like it was meaningless. The vexed look on the telepath's face was able to penetrate Ran's emotional barriers. It bothered him so that he was easily manipulated... If he had the usual strength of his mental barriers it would have been a lot easier.

And that girl really freaked him out. She was so solemn and emotionless. Like a real puppet, it's creator a true master of carving and design. He had made the most perfect doll, but not the perfect person. He had noticed yesterday that girl was always looking up at the ceiling when she was alone. As if someone was there talking to her or telling her a story, that in turn sent chills up the swordsman's spine. Who could she be listening to?

"Ran..." The somber voice rang into the 'cold one's' ears. And perfectly on impulse the Aya stopped. Was he really this responsive? No, maybe this was the conspiracy of the damned horse he had eaten yesterday... or could it be? Ran has become...

a softy?

"Look, Ran I'm really sorry..." He heard the German's voice again; it was calling him from behind, telling him to look back at those green eyes. But the sword master was stopping that persuasion, and the simplest formula had popped out in his head.

_Look in eyes sad voice Aya must forgive... Nooo..._

Slowly, but unwillingly he had given into the temptation and as probable, the German was miserable. But wait what if this was another hidden recorder stunt? Then, they'll nickname it RAN FORGIVES...

The darker red head's imagination ran wild the telepath had read it all and instantly, he had went down on his knees and hugged the swordsman. Strong arms wrapped tightly around Ran's waist. The sword master snapped out of his mind's eye, he looked down at the German who was now murmuring his very deep apology. The blade master looked down in astonishment. His eyes a little wide, the telepath was actually really apologizing?

Aya smiled. It was heartfelt enough for Schuldig to go on his knees, then it must be a real sorry. The former leader of Weiss knelt down as well and the orange head had let go of his waist. Their faces met, the swordsman's peaceful looking face made Schuldig's heart stop beating. He was smiling at him and so nicely too. The fine complexion of Ran's beautiful appearance made a slight tinge of red stain the telepath's cheeks. He then read the younger man's thoughts and he found one that was very special at the moment.

_I forgive you, Schuldig..._

/Really?.../ He asked with the telepathic line.

/Yes, really. Just don't do it again./ The red head answered. They were staring at each other in stillness and only the birds outside made noise. It was a magical moment, and some sort of signal the background changed into the really baby pink and blue shades with the bubbles. But just to ruin the moment, Schuldig gave a very mischievous grin. One that Aya was all too familiar with.

He wanted to run at that moment... run far, far away.

But the mind reader saw it coming and had beaten the other red head and Ran had given a yelp, toppled to the ground with such strength, the younger man had tried to look for some escape route but he was cornered by the telepath's powerful body. Crushed under the black wings was the cradled defenseless angel.

The sword master gulped. Their faces so close together and their bodies as well. He inhaled the scent of the German which was that of fine wine and a hint of cigarettes, he didn't dislike the smell it actually suited the older red head quite well. He can feel both his own heart and the mind reader's and he couldn't help the rising of blood that shaded his pale face. Then the telepath's grin grew wider, he slowly bent down to whisper his sentiments. "I love you, Ran..." The younger man was now redder and more shocked. He couldn't say anything; he knew that all the former member of Schwarz wanted was something that by the thought made Aya feel very uncomfortable such as pain... the will to make god angry. But this time it was different and he couldn't believe it.

"Schuldig... You're not hyper, are you?" He asked. Schuldig stared into his eyes still with his grin plastered on his face.

"No. Why? Is it wrong to say I love you?" The telepath asked softly. "Because I really do Ran. I am and always will be in love you..." Steadily, the German neared his face. Aya turned away, his heart was pumping too fast yet he could barely breath. But the German had got his free left hand, and pushed it gently to look at him. "Don't worry... I won't hurt you. We'll take this step by step." He whispered. "Just you and me... Here and now. I want you Ran..." He neared the young assassin, suffocated by the aroma of divine red roses. "Every inch of you is in my hands... your body, mind and soul... mine for all eternity..." His voice was even more soft and seductive. The building of fire between them was so intense that everything around them would be turned into nothing but ash. _Just me and him he said...Forever?_ Although Aya hated to admit it, he was now very much captivated torturing call of love echoed in his inner mortal... or was it?

Unhurriedly, Schuldig's lips meet Aya's...

Forehead.

(A/N: LOL)

The telepath then got himself off the other red head. Standing up he walked toward the living room taking his stroll toward the corner and now was out of sight, while Aya was bewildered by what just happened. He sat up his handed rested on his forehead on where the German had 'passionately' kissed it.

_No molestation?! Not... Something about "that"?!? What the hell??! I thought... And the...The floor may not be the most romantic of places but... but..._The sword wielder was trapped in confusion. Did he WANT Schuldig to kiss him? Did he yearn and long for him to touch him as gently as he just did? The telepath's voice was like a dreamy lullaby... Was he...?

llllll

He waited till his kitty had healed from the shock and had walked toward the library a little farther back. When he heard the door gently close, he gave a loud sigh, leaning against the corner. That was something that stressed him out. He wanted to kiss those soft lips. Allow himself to be swallowed by love and the desire he had kept buried in his soul but he then thought against it. Things were mentioned to be too early. He had remembered Natsumi's advice last night and she was right. If he really wanted Ran to be with him, then he had to wait till he was ready. The telepath knew by just looking at him he was knocked down into wanting the younger red head even more severely, that body, mind and soul... He can't live without him. Ran was love, his love. For Existence was cruel, for they say... without adoration, there is no life. He had to wait for it, till he can hold it forever and never let go.

Besides that he sounds more sophisticated when thinking about him... maybe he should write a book of poems about it.

To long and yet wait and to hold yet let go, was this infamous substance of our being called love?

The more he looked at it that way... He felt his soul come alive. The Ghost that lived in his body was awakened but the man he loved was incomplete. He knew the swordsman had plans of his own... _I won't let you do that... Not ever. _He won't let what he was looking for run away from him. This irresistible flow of power, will not escape him. He won't be able to accept it, if this was to leave him again... _No, don't think about that. It isn't the time... _

"Nii-san, have you seen Safron?"

The telepath looked down and found Yusuru. Her big emotionless silver eyes peered at him and he stared back with green orbs. "No, Yusuru, I haven't seen Safron. Where did you place him?"

"I don't know." She answered. "Where did you place him?" The telepath was startled by the question but didn't show it.

"Excuse me?"

"Where did you place my Safron... Nii-san?" She asked. Her voice broken, but her eyes were kept at its cold state. _She has no thoughts...Since yesterday. How talented for a 12 year old. Even telepaths my age have the problems hiding thoughts... _ He said to himself. He closed his eyes and averted his head to face the wall across him.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Yusuru. If you can't find your play-thing go and look for it." He replied, a little uncaring. She stared at him for awhile, then looked away.

"You're useless." With that remark she walked on, taking the corner and vanished. These harsh words made the mind reader smirk.

_Necromancers...They think they're so powerful. But they're nothing but dead beings themselves...Brady will pay for convincing me to let her stay in my house..._He looked for ways to complain and further annoy the much older man. _But for now, I have to get ready for a little surprise._

llllll

The certain cold brunette was in the alley, ironically it was very bright yet it was dark. He was just standing hands on his sides in his dark top with long sleeves and tight pants. Then a small smile appeared on his face and he set his hands on his back. "Come out now, I know you are all here." He said impassively. On cue, 10 men had appeared with various weapons on their dispense. Some snickering, they were dressed dirtily and some also had scars, even tattoos. They had the much younger man surrounded.

"A dog of the Takatori is here to play with us!" One remarked.

"This should be fun. And look, he's merely a boy. We'll kill him in one swing!" They all mocked him but he had remained silent and calm. "GET HIM!!" One man with a chain ran toward the lone figure in the center. He leaped up and then prepared for the blow. But... He stopped in mid-air. Panic swam through the floating man's veins.

"What th-"As he was suppose to complete the sentence. His chain had flung off his hand that then instantly broke his arm. Then an invisible force had struck him on the gut. Then on his jaw sending him to fly up into the air. Then another force sent him down back to the earth headfirst, crushing his skull and fresh crimson blood flowed off the corpse that lay lifeless. The rest of the attackers were filled with dread.

"RUN!!" The on with a mace screamed. He seemed to be the leader. But before any of them could, they were all stopped. Their eyes in horror as they felt their bodies being crushed painfully, their feet off the ground. The one beside the leader with the green hair was screaming in agony, his arm slowly and painfully being pulled out of its sockets. Yet they saw nothing doing this merciless act. Blood squirting out until the whole muscle was stretched to the limit making the red liquid substance pour out uncontrollably. The limp limb fell to the ground with a splash when it hit the bottom of its own pool of crimson. His comrades watched in horror as he was screaming for his own life to be taken away.

"As you wish." The boy answered his call and twisted his neck with a psychic energy. The rest of the while was followed by hollers of fear and throbbing

Moments later, there was nothing left but the lone man and severely crushed and well decapitated bodies. He had a few streaks of blood in his clothes but paid no mind to it. These men needed to pay with their lives, they were nothing but lackeys to a much bigger dog. But getting rid of them was partly important.

Silence....

/NAGI-WAGI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" The brunette screamed. Felt the corners of his ache, he covered his ears in pain. /Damn it, Schu, could you not do that?!?/

/I'm sorry. You might ignore me if I didn't./ Nagi growled and muttered a few curses.

/What do you want, Mastermind?/ The telekinetic could feel the grin come up on his former teammate's face.

/I know, you're looking for a certain someone./

/What do you mean?.../

/Fujimiya. I know that Takatori is looking for him, yes?/

/.../

/You're silence says it all./ He paused. /Well, just so you'd like to know I have him. But I want to surprise him./

/Surprise him...?/

/I want him to see his good friends. One last time./

llllll

He looked at the clock on top of the barred windows. It was now after lunch, 1:36 pm. He was in the library for more then 5 hours. He was on a round table, two empty chairs beside him and 3 bookshelves to his left and right. The door was behind him, the room was decorated with cream-ish colored wallpaper but the door was white. Actually, the majority of the walls were of this hue. Except for a few chosen places like Schu's bedroom and the kitchen.

He had also finished reading the novel last night just 3 hours ago and was now in another story. The ending was pretty good, you see, the woman warrior's closest companions were actually leagued with her sister. They had betrayed their guild mistress. But despite the fact that she had to kill the traitors even if they knew each other for so long... She had ended up with the man she wanted to be with. It was a fairly good ending and was wondrously written. He had searched for the title of the book and the author but it had none. It was strange, it looked like it was published just a few years back but it was blank in the first pages. Where had Schuldig bought that book?

Hours ago Natsumi had came into the room and gave him some coffee and pastries. The drained coffee cup stood on the tray and on the breakfast plate was only scarps of what was food. Then again, there was a knock on the door and Aya responded that it could be opened. Natsumi then came in with a silver tray, on it was a tea kettle and a small traditional tea cup. Beside it was a plate of well-powdered tea cakes. She set them down beside his other novel and he gave her his thanks and she smiled.

"Master Fujimiya, do need anything else?" The maid asked politely. "I'm terribly sorry that I didn't get you a proper meal. You see we're out..."

"No, but thank you... " He replied. Letting the last words sink in. "We're out of food?..."

"Not really, master Fujimiya. Most of it except anything too sweet has gone missing. The Master of the house is now trying to crack the case." Ran had poured himself some tea and took a bite of the tiny round pastry. Then ate the rest. He was amazed by the sweetness of the powder it was covered in, it wasn't as disturbingly sweet as the usual cakes, so he had instantly liked eating it and he let it slowly melt in his mouth.. Then he took another one and bit it. "That sir, is made of the normal ingredients of any tea cake." She answered with her motherly smile.

"That's good." He said. _No horse...Thank kami..._

"Although, the master did make it himself."

_Hm... the master of the house cooks well... Wait isn't that? _He dropped the teacake it landed on the floor with a light 'pluck' then broke into half and a few crumbs had also separated from it. "... Say what?!" He had different ideas poured into his skull. The German might have put some evil concoction in it to make him feel all tipsy and he'd take advantage of him or some sort of aphrodisiac or even worse... those evil things that turn you into cute little animals, (insert dreaded music). He looked at the happy maid.

"He's good in cooking, yes?" The maid remarked. "He made it just for you. He kept saying," She cleared her throat. **_"my Ran-Ran might end up starving to death because some damn idiot had eaten everything! Grr... he's gonna pay!!!" _**Natsumi said along with the well-made gestures and the voice of the German. She had impersonated almost perfectly. Who knew that she had taken up the German accent just by the company of her master? "And then, he made some teacakes out of whatever was left. And one of the maids had been sent to the grocery." After awhile of very well acted impersonations, Natsumi had left the company of the red head. He went back to multi-tasking. While reading he was eating the food that Schuldig had mad for him. It was... a very nice thing to know actually, that the telepath really cares but...

he can't get too close. _Damn, I told myself that a thousand times...No links to this world. I must forget...Everything. _He saddened. _I know no one here..._

He swam in his thoughts, unaware of the silhouette behind him.

llllll

In the dining room assembled all the servants of the household. In a very straight line, like soldiers going to war. Schuldig the General and Natsumi was the asst. standing by her 'general's' side, they were now in the session of finding the food snatcher. The telepath cleared his throat.

"All of you seem to be clean..." He said in a leader-ish manner. "Therefore, I will have none of you fed to Crawford." Everyone sighed in relief. One was even crying with happiness at the removed tension. Squeals of bliss echoed like the won some tournament and were now the champions of the season for their 1st time in years. Thank kami no evil American... he would have them eaten... Literally. "But, the culprit is still around the house. And I want all of you to be very alert!" His voice snapped and everyone straightened up.

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"Anything can happen while we aren't looking... You're all trained ninjas so use those skills!"

"Sir, yes, sir!"

As Schuldig opened his mouth to speak, he was then halted at the sound of a shattering glass. He followed the noise, his sense keen he then found the source of the racket had came from...

_Ran! _With no time at all, he had dashed toward the library. Upon reaching the door, he had burst it open. He peered at the red head who was cornered at the bookshelf on the right side. "Ran, what the?!" He peeked into the mind of the young red head and his eyes widened in shock. _A spirit...? That can't be..._

"_Nii-san... Have you seen Safron?" _

A trigger had been switched on in Schuldig's brain. He had remembered the necromancer was always peering up. Could it be that... Safron was a spirit? When he had thought of it, he had focused his eyes on the flying hardbound book toward his face. Immediately, he had dodged it, and then stepped back from the door. If he was dealing with a being such a spirit then he has to be very careful.

"What the hell is going on?!" He heard Aya shout from inside the library.

"I don't even know myself, kitty... Just be very careful." Schuldig replied. From inside the library... Several large hard books had floated of their bookshelves. The swordsman had thought it was a work of a telekinetic prowess. But something seemed different. The books flew out the door, aimed at the mind reader which he instantly evades, making a stance and ready to fend of any attack.

"Safron. Stop." The telepath heard the impassive tone of the young magician of the dead behind him. And everything was suddenly very quiet. "Good." The tattering of footsteps echoed the corridors. Schuldig looked back, he saw her coming toward him and his helpers somewhat horrified. Probably because flying novels wasn't part of their job description...

Yusuru stopped in front of the German. Her eyes trying to send daggers through his soul, but he maintained unaffected. "Idiot. This is your fault..."

"Excuse me?" He asked with a fine eyebrow raised up. She looked at the opened door to see the rather surprised and tired Aya.

"He wants him... Because of you, he wants him."

TBC

Thanks for everyone's reviews. And reading too.

Please R&R.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Weiss Kruez

Claimer: Natsumi, Yusuru, Yasumi, Lupus, Leo and Signum... MINE. Don't steal.

Locked

Chapter 5

"Repeat that please... I didn't quite understand..." Schuldig said somewhat angered and also lying because he understood it... All to well, he understood it. Yusuru looked at him lifelessly, and then closed her eyes, probably thinking to herself.

"Safron likes him...a lot..." Aya, who was at the doorway looked at her confused. _Who? Liked what? Where?... Huh?... _She turned a little to gaze at Aya. "Although I'm not surprised why he likes him. Sophisticated, intelligent... not to mention good-looking."

"Hey, aren't you too young to be talking about this?" Schuldig interrupted, annoyed because of 2 things one, there's a ghost who seems to be lusting over his Ran-ran. And 2, he felt mediocre that he can't kill the already dead thing that is lusting over HIS property. Why can't spirits just rest in peace?

"What the hell is going on?" Ran asked walking out of the room. Still calm despite the fact that some unknown thing attacked his teacakes. At that the telepath walked up in front of him and cupped his cheek he stared at the sword master's eyes with worry.

"Ran-ran... Are you hurt?" He asked his voice sounded like it was both angry and at the same time concerned. The younger redhead didn't mind the way the mind reader was holding him, he enjoyed the warmth of his hand and the nearness of his figure against his own but he tried his best not to show it.

"No, I'm all right. It actually just wasted the food." He replied, stepping back and gestured at the tea that had been scattered on the table and the little sweets that had been thrown in various places of the room. The telepath sighed in relief.

"As long as it didn't hurt you then it's ok."

"You should take a closer care of him, Schuldig." A manly voice said from the sidelines near the servants. Both redheads looked at that direction and saw the American in his usual calm façade. The servants had backed away in fear, they were now staring at the man that could get them eaten alive for insubordination of any sort and were very lucky that they got Schuldig who was... sadistic but then he was nice... from time to time.

"Brad... What are you doing here?" Schuldig asked a little more light-hearted than th previous worried tone.

"I saw it in my vision. And don't call me that..." Crawford stated. He shifted his gaze at the younger red head, who sent back his trademark death glare. The American smiled, /_Fiery as usual...Schuldig... you do wonders to the soul...He doesn't look as tired and damned as my visions showed me./_

/Thank you, thank you./ The telepath replied proudly in their secret conversation. "Now... Why don't we all have a nice chat?" The telepath said braking the silence.

llllll

They were in the living room. Crawford was seated on a lone arm chair and across him was the necromancer in another armchair. In the much larger divan with small tables on the sides with lampshades on top of them was Ran who was beside the Oracle much to his dislike but the telepath had assured him that the American won't attack him while he himself was beside the girl. In between them was a coffee table with a wood like design. And under that was a soft well made carpet, and above was a bright yellow-ish light. Natsumi stood behind her master, awaiting anything anyone would need.

"What is exactly is going on?" Ran spoke up.

"Abyssinian, there is a little crisis going on." The American replied calmly. He crossed his legs and went into his 'let's talk business' mode.

"About what?" The red head asked.

"Her." She gestured at Yusuru. "She is a necromancer of high skill. And we have recovered her from past kidnapping. She had been missing for a few years and we were able to get her back."

"A necromancer? They're still people like that in modern days?"

"Yes, but only a few in our bureau. Most are still sleeping. She is one of the 4 that we know today, quite rare really. They have the power to bring the dead back to life and cast spells and charms by using dead and undead corpse. I'm sure you know of it."

"I see... so what just attacked Schuldig's teacakes was a dead being who hasn't rested in peace?"

"Precisely."

Schuldig watched them talk was impressed by how calm they both stayed. It was like they were making a bargain on a very expensive piece of furniture. The telepath himself can be calm but not always serious like this. Schuldig shifted his eyes on the necromancer who was still the lifeless doll just sitting there hands on her lap.

"What exactly do you need them for?... you're not planning that world domination again are you?" Aya asked. The American gave a small chuckle.

"Of course we're not that desperate. We're just caring for our fellowmen."

"Yeah right. And I'm holy..." The sword wielder said sarcastically and the American laughed a little louder. Schuldig turned his head to look at the American... There's something weird here...

"Well, it's partly true, dear Abyssinian. Although, of course as you know we have more profundity than that, there are still a lot of scumbags in the world. Somehow, they just keep coming out." He smiled. "Such as myself, and Schuldig have already left the grasp of our old organization. We are making new ties and getting in a much more peaceful side."

"In other words, you're like a refuge base for people with special abilities... trying not to get seen, killed, and used by anyone. Yes?" Ran answered coolly. "Unoriginal..."

Crawford gave a courteous nod. "You haven't lost those keen senses of yours... I'm impressed."

Schuldig twitched unconsciously. He can feel it, sense it, it was surrounding the room. His dear and oh so loving partner is now starting to flirt with his kitten... What joy. Although he kept silent, keeping a good watch on those evil American hands... They were very fast tricky hands... Not to mention sneaky and suspicious. (Ignoring that there's a possibility that the man is not flirting but simply having more than a 30 word conversation with Ran.)

_Why does everyone want what I own? Can't they get their own?!_ He took a short gaze at Ran's face then back at prophet's hands, making sure nothing happens, he wasn't even sure of what they were talking about anymore, just as long as his 'friend', (although now was no longer a friend but more of a evil-stealer-of-lovers) doesn't touch ANYTHING. All is in gods' sacred hands... But if he did feel his 'lover', oh he was going to cut those limbs and shove it up the American's ass.

"Although I don't get one thing..." Ran said, more of saying his thoughts aloud then to actually talking to anyone. "what did Yusuru mean when she said 'he wants him...'?"

There was an uncalled for silence in the room.

"Ran... Maybe you should go to sleep..." Schuldig said standing up and nearing the other red head.

"Hmm? Why?"

"You look really tired... Besides, I have a surprise for you tomorrow..." The German grabbed the Aya's arm and pulled him up. "Come now." Evidently trying to avoid the topic as much as possible as long as that poltergeist was around... the possibility of flying objects has gone up far from half of its rate.

"But..."

"Master Fujimiya." Natsumi said politely, leading the rather baffled sword wielder to the Master's bedroom. As the sound of their foot steps faded away, the telepath sat back down with a loud sigh and Crawford shifted a little on his seat to sit up straight.

"You haven't told him yet have you?" The pre-cog stated calmly and Schuldig glanced at the American.

"No... Not about some freak lusting over him. Are you insane?! If I tell Ran that he'll leave the house as fast as I can talk in German!" He stated and Crawford looked at him weirdly with an eye brow arched up. "... Or are you talking about another thing?"

"I meant about 'him'." Crawford gave another serious statement. "Did you tell him about that?" The telepath grinned and shifted his gaze at the dead doll on the sofa.

"Are we going to have a meeting tomorrow, Brad? With Yasu, do we need her support again?" The German replied, obviously out of the subject. The American couldn't help but let a small smile out at the remark; he can sense that his partner didn't want to talk about the past. It makes him feel... unwanted.

"Yes, we do have a meeting. And yes, Yasu will be there... why you miss her? And can you not call me Brad?" he said the last sentence distastefully at his the sound of his first name.

Yasumi Tsujiimoto was the president of the Tsujiimoto Corporation which support various sects of underground societies such as Brad's business which were not known by officials of course, but not like she helped any business right of the shelf she was actually very picky. Her industry provides cash, technology, lawyers and land. In other words, they support big companies making them earn millions and billons of yen, due to interest. She was also well acquainted with martial arts and had the strategic mind of that of a General of the Army.

The mind reader let out a laugh then plastered the grin on his face. "Hehehe. Well, I miss conducting evil with her if that's what you mean. And you sound cuter!"

"Can you for once not mock me?..."

"...No."

Crawford sighed. He already knew the answer so why bother asking that? "Anyway, why do you ask we have a meeting? I know you hate leaving the house at these times because Fujimiya is always left here. So why now?"

"Well, if it's not a problem..." he paused. "Can he come along? And meet Yasu?"

llllll

He was very sleepy...

Not only that, he was also in a very red expensive of vehicle with the evil telepath right beside him humming some song of his origin while he himself sat there with a seatbelt on, forced to leave the walls of the villa, dressed in dark colored jeans and dark blue colored top under a brown velvet jacket that he didn't own including the very expensive black leathered shoes on his feet(although suited him fairly), hungry also because he had not even eaten breakfast, sleepy because it is now 3 in the morning and he slept at what looked like 11 or 10 due to the endless curiosity of wanting to find out what that necromancer was trying to say last night.

The sword master gave out a small sigh. He was also looking at the things outside the vehicle. It was empty and dark with only the streetlights to see around the place. Only a few cars passed by, and Yusuru was not with them. It seemed like the American had taken her with him the last night. Did the spirit person go along with her? Was he still in the house?

"Don't worry kitten, we're almost there. And no, the poltergeist is still in my house and we have sent various people to go there and get it to rest in peace so don't worry about being molested in the middle of the night by thin air..." Schuldig obviously took a glimpse at the younger man's mind. Wearing his black foreign looking hat and warm colored clothes with the suspenders and all.

(A/N: If you've seen the Gluhen series you'll see what I'm now horribly describing... I'm bad at describing clothes so forgive me. If you have seen it... maybe ehm I can try to find a pic or you can do it yourselves)

"...Huh? What? Sorry, Schu, I wasn't listening..." Aya turned back to look at the driver while he was gazing outside, his voice sounding sleepy.

"Nothing, Ran-ran. I said you're very pretty." The mind reader sighed out. These were the times when he really wanted Ran to listen to him the most, especially regarding his safety. Although he liked the way Ran had been calling him Schu, his nickname heard from the younger man was like hearing the anthem of angels. "And that we're almost there. So don't fall asleep, yet."

"All right." He replied and looked back out at the empty sidewalks.

Stillness...

"Say Ran..." Schuldig spoke up but still concentrated on the road. The younger redhead looked back at him with a questionable expression on his face. "Have you ever had a relationship with anyone?" Aya gagged mentally.

"Excuse me?"

"You know, a girlfriend a boyfriend... both?"

"...Why are asking such a question?.. And you'd already know anyway... You can read minds..."

"Thank you for stating the obvious, love." The telepath purred. "But I'd appreciate it more if I didn't have to read your mind to get me to find out more about you, it takes away the bonding process. And I'm pretty sure you'd like it better that you have your own space and I will respect that."

"Since when did you start caring about leaving personal for me?" Aya snapped back a little suspiciously.

"I care about you."

Aya shrugged at the words. He cares?...

Yeah right.

Suddenly the car stopped, they were in a parking place inside a building in the German's personal parking spot just a few meters away from the elevator. In there it was also dark with a few white lights. They both got off the car and the sword master surveyed the area.

The place didn't look flashy at all. It looked old, smelled old... It was just... old. It was weird that the German would bring him to such a place and actually like it. Schuldig walked silently towards the elevator and the former member of Weiss followed, the doors shut closed and for a while they just stood there. The telepath peered at the buttons, then pressed the number 5 three times. They suddenly, the cheap buttons were extracted in and a hypersensitive screen appeared its background was blue and there were some English letters spelled out in silver that said, 'Welcome, please type ID'. Obviously, the technology was farther into the future then modern tools. The younger red head stared blankly at the change. It was like one of those movies. The mind reader typed a few things and then the elevator started to descend instead of going up. A secret agency underground a cheap skyscraper? Yep, movies...

"Nice, yes?" The German asked and Aya just nodded, still fascinated by the futuristic tools. "This is custom made stuff by none other then the great Crimson. Heard of him?" Now, Aya choked mentally.

"Crimson?... The genius programmer, hacker and technologist?... Not only that but one of the wanted assasins in the whole Takatori family? Including the bastard and his brothers and Persia?" He said in awe. And the telepath nodded.

"Crimson is the twin brother of Desert. Heard of her?"

"One of youngest strategist of today... Known for her cunning in weapons, martial arts and business..."

"Yes... Gosh kitten, you sound like a stalker..." He replied slightly amused.

"They were a target... Unfortunately the mission was terminated for several reasons one would be lack of info and second, too dangerous."

"Well, the old man was right in not sending you. You'd be dead, if I went in alone in their territory I'd be dead." He paused. "But the sad thing now is... Crimson, also known as Kogoyoshi Tsujiimoto had died in a mission. And now only his sister, Yasumi is alive." At the sentence he felt Schuldig's cheeky composure diminish slightly. He glanced at the telepath trying to make contact but his eyes were cast down. Is this the closest to emoting that the older man can conduct?

Maybe he felt bad for the twin sister being left all alone. It reminded him a little of himself and his younger sister in the past, the real Aya. But a comatose is very different from a permanent sleep. He wondered how old the girl would be... In her stature... She'd be around her late 30's. The information was so minimum that they only knew their codenames and the expertise but beyond that was a mystery; he didn't even know they were brother and sister, twins, until now. But Schuldig knew a lot which states that he had known the twins for years. So he had hid them from the Takatori the whole time... He was loyal. Meaning, he was close to the family. But, the swordsman felt there was something more to it but he couldn't quite grasp it.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. The German steeped out first and Ran followed. And welcomed by a certain American and a necromancer. The telepath's usual stature reappeared again making Aya confused.

"Yo." Schuldig said with a trademark grin and Crawford smirked in response.

"You're two minutes late, Schuldig..." The American said with impassive eyes and a calm voice.

"Hehe. My bad... Well, shall we?" He replied slyly. "Shall we?" The American nodded and walked ahead with Yusuru beside him through the cold small hallways.

/Schu... You never told me what we're doing here?.../ Ran said, feeling uncomfortable with the surroundings.

/We have to take care of a project... I brought you along because some people are 'fixing' my house./ He replied through the telepathic line. /And like I said... I have a surprise for you later./

They walked on till they reached a sliver colored double decked door and two silver handles. Brad took the handles and opened them with ease and they entered the very spacious briefing room, the walls were like an abyss, not knowing what lay beyond them. They walked in and felt the door behind them begin to slowly disappear. There was a large rectangular shaped table with 8 remote keyboards on the desk corresponding to the 8 chairs and a large flat screen on the black wall behind the. Ran felt like he entered holy ground that would be eventually swallowed by evil, the floor was a mirror of and the room's source of light. He looked down and saw his reflection. If he was a woman, wearing a skirt was a sin in this terrain and despite the jacket he was wearing it was quite cold. Then he just remembered Yusuru was wearing a dress... ok, no more looking down. Even if she's just kid you shouldn't go looking there...

"Well, well isn't it our two foreigners and their play things." A voice said in the corners of the darkness. Then 2 figures came out from their left. "I wasn't thinking Yasu would invite you... Must be something unimportant if you two are here." The voice said cockily. It was a man with raven colored locks and dark blue eyes, his of shoulder length and long bangs kept away from his fair face. He was wearing dark blue jeans and a green v-neck his hand in his right pocket, on his feet were black shoes. A grin playing on his lips. The one beside him was a brunette with gold eyes his hair was much shorter and was a little unruly, wearing a white shirt with a collar and blue jeans on his feet were sneakers.

These two were the head of security and are also skilled assassins for the Tsujiimoto. If Persia had Weiss. Then Yasumi had these two.

_Plaything?.... _Aya said coldly in thoughts. He was certainly not a 'thing' nor was he something that was used to 'play' with. He was twitching unconsciously till he heard Schuldig smirk at the other men's remark.

"Excuse us for having something to look forward to when you little kiddies are asleep..." He said seductively and the man scowled at the back fired insult. But the swords master couldn't help the blood flow on his face making him turn bright pink at the remarks.

"Schu... Don't bring me into this..." Crawford said a little irritated. "I don't molest little children so quit trying to dream of it ever happening. This is not the time to do childish things." The telepath snickered. And the man with a white shirt grinned.

"Trying to impress Desert won't do you any good, Crawford-san..." The brunette remarked making the American raise a eyebrow in disgust.

"Oh?..." The American replied. "What makes you say that I am trying to impress her?" Ran could feel a very ominous energy overflow from the prophet as he glared at the other man. Schuldig had crossed his arms before his chest as he also glared at the other two men with a smug smile. Strange... he looks happy after being insulted.

"Oh, just the fact that you do everything she tells you to do..." He sighed trying to sound friendly but it came with malice instead.

Now, this made Crawford burn a little. Because he only followed orders that he would benefit from, not because he was a slave. Usually, it wasn't exactly orders he thought of accurately the same thing as the leader and seeing which would lead to a much brighter future. Despite the blazing hatred he remained silent and just looked at them.

"And you, German..." The brunette spoke again. He looked at Ran who just stared back impassively. He grinned. "Cheating on your old.."

"Lupus... subtract 30 percent from pay check, Leo subtract 35 percent from pay check. Well, I'm going to save a lot of money today, aren't I?" A mature feminine said amusingly. They all looked at the desk to see a woman with silky ebony hair draped on her shoulders, sitting on the 'head' part of the table, her high heeled covered feet on the table, right over left and legs covered in dark blue polyester coated pants. Wearing a trench coat of pure black under was a sleeveless turtle neck of good quality cotton with a small diamond-studded white gold cross dangling from her neck by a silver box-chained design necklace. She was young around only 23 and matured properly she was curvaceous and young. Her violet eyes gazing at the men with interest and porcelain skin reflected by the light on the floor, left arm on the arm rest while the other was supporting her head.

Aya gulped at the powerful feel to her eyes, he had never seen a woman with such a strong stare... It was like a man's or maybe his own. He felt like just by looking into her eyes, he could be swallowed into darkness and yet feel no pain. Like a hole was being drilled into his gut.

"Yasu?! What are you doing here so.-"

"Early?... A certain prophet told me to come here 10 minutes early 15 minutes ago... who would have thought this was the so-called 'interesting' prediction he saw." She said again, looking at the ravened haired man who she interrupted before he could continue his sentence. And the two foreigners snickered amongst themselves. Aya sighed at the notion, this was nothing more then a prank for what looked like rivals-of-uneven-level-of-foreign-bastards. Crawford actually teamed up with the telepath for such foul immature things? The world is indeed a very strange land... The woman put her legs down on the mirror-like ground. Who would have known the American had some childish antics in him at this age?

"Now, can all of you please take your seats so we can get over and done with this briefing."

llllll

"You found Aya-kun?!" Mamoru shouted at the brunette in front of him in disbelief. He was happy but shocked, he stood up from his chair and the brunette nodded. They were once again in the dark office.

"Yes. He is with Schuldig... According to him he found him wondering around Tokyo half-dead. He said to rendezvous in the park at 8:00 a.m." The telekinetic said seriously. And Persia nodded, he was going to meet him again. After all these months, he was going to meet the forsaken leader of Weiss.

llllll

"Signum?" The brunette, also known as Leo said confused. The woman nodded and leaned her elbows on the desk, her fingers laced together. The dark walls of the room were still very evident. By her right was Crawford, the Schuldig, Aya, and Yusuru. And her left Leo, beside Lupus

"Yes, according to our sources that is name of the federation of so-called righteousness that kidnapped Yusuru-chan 3 years ago." She said seriously.

"Righteousness, ah? Sounds more like terrorists..." The Lupus, the dark headed man snorted. "Like that's new..."

As Yasumi was talking, briefing them in the plan Ran took the opportunity to study her more closely. He had noticed that under her violet orbs were darkening rings. It wasn't that obvious because it was hidden by a little dash of cosmetics but then that meant that she was hiding something from everyone. Then he remembered what the telepath had told him earlier about her brother's death. Was that the reason why she seemed to lack sleep? She was the new leader of the organization and to show weakness would be the beginning of its down fall. That sad fact bothered him.

The telepath sensed some sort of uneasiness from the man beside him. He wasn't looking in his head but he could feel he was troubled.

Yasumi sighed. "Well, that ends the briefing..." She said. Lupus and Leo stood up but all the rest remained seated. "You know what to do with Yusuru, right?"

"Don't worry, Yasu. We'll take care of it." Lupus replied with a green. "Let's go, Yusuru."

"Hai." She replied, following both of them into the shadows of the span.

The telepath grinned. "Haven't been getting much sleep lately have you, Yasu?" She smirked at the remark, relaxing her back on the chair.

"Maybe..." She answered and looked at Ran who stared back. She flashed a somewhat angry glare which sent shivers down the swordsman's spine but he showed no reaction to it. "Ran slash Aya Fujimiya, former Weiss, Leader of the 4th generation, weapon Katana, codename Abyssinian. Yes?" She asked and he gave her a small nod. "I heard a lot about you from the dark areas of the city. You're quite a name in the assassin role, so I've heard... You worked for Reiji-san, yes?" He gave another nod. "Former teammate of the now crowned 'Persia', Mamoru Takatori, Ken Hidaka, and Yohji Kuduo... Also former leader of two deceased members.." He gave once again another silent nod. Silence

"Ran..." Now he was startled at the casual use of his name. "Would you like to meet them all today? One last time."

TBC...

Hahahahaha... I bet that had a lot of typos... Oh well.

Thanks for all you reviews! Love them! Pls. keep giving me reviews!

Flames are welcome.

R&R


	6. skip this thing and go to chap 6

Hey, just here to ask people's opinion! Please answer ASAP because I need it to be clarified for the next chap! Answer please, TY:

As you've read the previous chaps... you'd know who Yasumi is... right? Yes, my OC.

Ok here is the question.

Is it okay if she would be paired up with the Crawford for this fic? Well, just hints of being paired up. And I promise it WON'T take away the Schu x Ran concept because I LOVE that pairing to push it aside and ruin the whole point of this fic.

So is it all right if the two were together here?

Your opinions will be very helpful and very much appreciated.

Thanks for reading and reviewing.


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: Hey, hey. This chappie will be mainly on flashbacks and crap like that. But ya, hehe. Hopefully you won't be too disappointed. I'm just making sure you won't get confused with the plot and stuff. -grin- It's a service to the people who read and review and who will read and review and those who read but REALLY need to review. (Ya, I'm hinting you to review... you can tell, yes?) The Flashback you'll be reading is MONTHS BEFORE Schwarz became Takatori's bodyguards. So ya, younger versions of them, but of course in present it would be Gluhen version, but if it looks to weird... ya imagine the old version. Just trying to help you read better.

I hope you don't get confused! Oki, hope you enjoy.

And thank you for answering my question! My mind was made clear. Yes!

I hope you enjoy the chap!

Warning: OOC-ness... And lots of made up stuff. Please don't confuse them with what is truly real or possible.

Disclaimer: I DON'T own Weiss kruez.

Claimer: I DO own Yusuru, Yasumi, Natsumi, Lupus, Leo, Rai, Kogoyoshi and Signum. Don't steal.

/telepathic conversation/

_thoughts_

Locked

Chapter 6

**-Flashback-**

_This is dumb... Why on earth must we do this boring thing?... Damn the organization's elites... _A certain red headed German said to himself, wearing his usual suit, as he was sitting on chair while leaning on a desk with a blackboard behind him and with students in their self-study period as he just sat there, willing time to move faster. He has been sitting there for 7 minutes and 20 seconds, wait, 19, now, 18...17

This was hopeless.

The pupils were extremely angelic and only the gods know why, sitting reading their books like they wanted to be the next valedictorian. The girls' clothes all neatly pressed, hair well fixed just for him, long-sleeved white tops inside a light blue vest with the pretty black buttons and the scandalously short dark blue skirts followed by the white socks and black leather shoes. And the men with their navy blue long sleeved tops and long pants and their dark-colored shoes. All of them perfectly matching the nice dress code.

Oh wait, the telepath knew too of course, he was the new teacher and they were going to be nice for the next few days... Then turn into mutant carnivores, carving his flesh with their very disobedience till he begged them to stop. Ears bleeding and all. Yep, plan was all figured out. No problem. He can handle it when the time comes.

All of Schwarz was there, well, Farf was hiding in the shadows because the Irish man would scare everyone off at a glance with his mumbling curses to god and stuff Farfie enjoys doing till something, if anything that will please god passes by he'll torture it and to him that's the reason of existence in the world. Crawford was another teacher. Guess what kind... A guidance councilor, the telepath nearly burst out laughing when he heard it. A GUIDANCE councilor, the place Crawfie can guide everyone is to hell, right now he is probably doing paperwork in a much safer territory in the GUIDANCE room. Not like it was a very big thing. But Guidance... It was too weird. While Nagi would be in another classroom, studying and probably too intelligent for the other students to handle. Kid is too smart for most people anyway.

What were they doing here anyway, you might ask? Excellent question.

A mission, but of course. They were in a specific High School an international one the place was called 'lunaris' and to what Schuldig knew meant 'moon' in latin, the school taught 4 languages which would be Japanese, German, English and Latin. Not to mention the tuition fee that raised the roof. But their education was top-class and maybe even better though the students seemed otherwise.

Most of the pupils here were children of rather formal and rich parents and their parents before that. Government officials, high-ranking businessmen, probably even drug lords and much more wealthy people legally or illegally. So, majority of self-righteous, spoiled and impudent teenagers had resided in the vicinity.

Right now, elites had sent them to look for a 2 specific people to see if the really exist or were just characters of rumors. Investigations may take months and that's what the telepath hated the most about it, how boring it is to be an educator and the paychecks were really low too. He sighed in his thoughts as he remembered who they were looking for.

Desert and Crimson. 2 people who were known in the 'Dark' areas for being geniuses of a new era. RosenKruez obviously wanted them under their possession. But here is the strange part, they're... 18 years-old. Now, that was the rather freakish part... 18... Assassins at 18. Well, there was Nagi, but he's a little different he has a gift and he was claimed just like the other 3. Maybe claimed was an understatement but still. 18 and in school, he didn't know why it bothered him but maybe because they were known to be highly skilled yet they still go to school.

Trouble was... they had no idea what they looked like, their names and what they're REALLY capable of doing.

Desert... Lone, abandon, forsake, uncare heck there were to many words with the same meaning. The man must be a real poet or a sad weirdo to have such a codename.

And now Crimson, red... if he knew if had something to do with killing people it would be related to blood and the lack of life. Yep, malicious indeed, this young soul. Or so he guessed.

Now, this lack of actual leads annoys him so. They were this slippery to evade their leaders. Really, unusual.

_Ok... 19 minutes... 31 more minutes to kill. Yes, I feel so very joyous. Good for me. _Said the voice in his heads in a dry bored tone. Then he scanned the room, and decided to peak into people's mental statures. He looked at the acorned-headed woman with pigtails right in front of his desk reading a book of what looked like history. Yes, the first victim is usually the luckiest. But not today...

With no problem in entering, he stepped into her world. _Ahh...She had a big crush on this...Kogoyoshi? Who likes history? Queer. What kind of fool likes history?! The man must be insane! And what kind of name is Kogoyoshi?... Parents must have issues, big issues. _He didn't know why but he felt that he needed to know more. He strangely ached for knowledge._ Hmm...What else about this Kogo-person? _He scanned more, without the girl even noticing. What was hard was he hasn't really controlled his powers to focus on one mind so other thoughts of the other students bombarded him. But he kept his cool and focused on the name.

Kogoyoshi.

It rang something in him. But he wanted to know why.

_Here. He's a senior. A computer genius... But not those geeks with the thick bloody glasses... Really good in gym. Interesting. Hm. Likes history, ya I know that. Last name is Matsuka._

_Matsuka Kogoyoshi..._

_I'll keep that in mind._

**-End of Flashback-**

"One last time?..." He repeated her last sentence and she nodded in response. He would see all of them? Sena and Kyo had died in missions, they were both the newest members yet they were the first ones to go eternal salvation. In a sense he was envious of them, they were able to escape the curse before it got to them. Wait a minute... How can he meet dead people?... They're dead...

"Our head Necromancer will take care of that part." He heard her voice and he snapped out of his trance. How did she know what came up in his head? Was she a telepath? "I know what you're thinking... how did I know, yes? Well, let's say I'm a little special myself."

"In other words..." Crawford interrupted, cleaning his monocle with the edge of his neat white suit. "She is well-educated on spiritual practice. Spirit force as they call it, she can sense disruptions in the vicinity 3 times stronger than we can. Such Malice, love, fear, and much more, she cannot read your exact thoughts but through experience she can only guess what you're thinking." Schuldig nodded in agreement.

"She makes good guesses too. One time she caught Brady-boy here wanting to.."

"In any case..." Crawford interrupted and Schuldig snickered at the sudden feel of embarrassment and anger. What ever the telepath was suppose to say must have been some deep secret they all agreed not to talk about but the mind reader being as evil as always had tried to spill the beans. "It's something like empathy but she wasn't born with the gift as we were... She had to practice it."

"I see..." Aya said calmly. He was still looking at the raven haired woman and she smiled at him as she stood up.

"I think Lady Rai is ready." She said and walked toward her right, into the wall and vanished from sight but the light tapping of her shoes were still audible. The swords master blinked a few times at the direction she had disappeared into. Was the room that big? Now probably the woman was too far away to hear as her steps had faded as well as her figure. The technology in this building is indeed beyond understanding. The other two foreigners stood up soon after, they looked at each other and the American nodded and walked ahead. They must have had some kind of agreement in one of their silent chats.

"Ran-ran... Shall we go?" The telepath grinned and held out his to help the swordsman up which the younger red head did take much to the mind reader's liking. They both stood in front of each other in calmness, taking advantage of the fact that they are alone and they can stare at one another as much as they like. Aya turned away to hide the light pink hue appearing in his cheeks as he finally recognize what kind of things might just pop out in his head, some how forgetting there was a telepath in front of him.

The German gave a wider grin at the glance of pink on the younger man for one thing they were still holding hands. He noticed how cold Aya's hands were, he was cold but didn't tell anyone. Now that's something Yasumi didn't sense... or she did know but wanted Schu to handle it?

He silently blessed the idea. The world needs more people who appreciate, well, more like accept relationships like these in the world. People like the young president knows that no one is perfect and you just have to accept their defects. That's probably why both she and the mind reader became friends at a gaze. He got rid of his evil grin and plastered a much warmer charming smile. Well, a few gazes because she can sense his emotions and some weren't to her liking because they were... very aroused feelings of sexuality. Yes, he was very lonely at the moment and decided to go into that specific part of the brain. Not to mention to get away from one of the hells in his life that is boredom and maybe even emptiness.

"Ran, we're going to the very strange endless wall to follow Brad and Yasu..." He paused. "It is going to be VERY cold in there and pitch black. So I need you to hold on to me and not let go." He laced his fingers on to Ran's and a much redder hue appeared on the younger man's face but he looked at the telepath anyway. "Are you okay with that?"

"Ya, I am." He said softly. Schuldig walked into the wall, holding Aya's hand tightly. And yes, it was wasn't cold, it was freezing and he couldn't see what was ahead of him but he held the telepath tighter in fear of getting lost. "Schu, why is it so dark and cold here? How can anyone get through this?"

"Well, love, not a lot of people can get through this. Me and Brad can decipher this area because we've memorized our way because we were shown around by the makers themselves, but one wrong step will get us lost. This is to assure the safety of the people inside the place. So no strange people such as assassins and bounty hunters can enter, it's indeed a remarkable trap a mix of talismanic forces mastered by our dear Yasumi and Kogoyoshi's knowledge in the field of technology. I'm not sure what happens to the people who get lost here or where their bodies go but I doubt it had happened before."

"I see. Then why don't they just bring a light or something?"

"Well, that's one of the tricks... Don't you remember when we were in the other room? The light on the floor was so bright yet we can't see through the walls. We need a special light that only the twins know how to make."

"Ah."

For awhile, only their footsteps were noisy.

"Hey, Ran-ran."

"Ya?"

"You didn't answer my question in the car..."

"What question?" It hit Ran hard on the head... _oh no, not that... _"Oh, um well..."

"You don't have to really answer, you know. I was just curious." _And I can tell them to back of because now you're mine! Wahahaha!! _

"Oh," he paused and thought for awhile. "Well, there were a few girlfriends before Aya-chan slipped into a coma but I didn't have any girlfriends afterwards because I was too busy with work."

"How about that teacher? What's her name... Misami-san?.."

"Did you scan my mind? I thought you said you'd 'respect' personal space."

"I did, this morning," He paused. "But I scanned your mind... Last night." Despite the fact he could see nothing, Ran knew that the German was grinning like the evil maniac that he is.

"Ahh... I see."

"Hey..."

"What?"

"You know what just sucks..."

"No, what?"

"The fact that we're alone in the dark and yet I can't do anything to you..."

"Oh I- WHAT?!?!" Out of reflex laws, Ran broke away from the mind reader's grip. Blushing madly and thanking the gods it was too dark to see. "You pervert..." He felt the telepath had looked back at him was now probably gazing at him with amusement.

"Hey, don't accuse me of that. Besides, just because I said it like 'that' doesn't mean I'll rape you or anything..." Then before, Ran can open his mouth to speak, he felt the mind reader's body against his, a sensation of both pleasure and desire made him immobile, a hand rested on his shoulder and a finger outlined his jaw with gentle caress. "Unless you want me to..." came a sensuous whisper in his ear.

The older man's warm breath playing with his sensitive ear made him feel even more manipulated by desire and the said finger was now making its way down his elegant neck and down to his chest. The strange yearning sensation ran wilder within him, he wanted it. So bad and now he can longer control it. "But..." came another erotic tone through his ear. "Now is not the time. Ne?" And with that the telepath moved away. And Ran felt used again, damn this telepath and his evil mind tricks. He's worst than any jigsaw puzzle in the world, thousand times harder to not be able to control the urge to stab him here and there.

Schuldig took the younger man's hand once more. "Let's go. Let's not keep Lady Rai waiting."

llllll

"You're not mad at him are you?" The American asked. He was walking side by side with the young president. Covered by darkness but as they walked a bright blue light from the cross on Yasumi's neck lit a much brighter path toward the destination.

"At Schu? Should I be?" She asked in reply, calmly as her high-heels tapped the ground. The cold of the area unable to penetrate their clothing as they walked on like they were in a field full of flowers while the other two were quite far behind were freezing to nearly death.

"Not unless you want to be, Tsujiimoto. But as you know I'm simply asking." He said in professional mode. With that he heard her sigh.

"That's the problem with you, Brad, you got used too being in the business life and now you already forgot how to express yourself properly... Learn to lighten up once in awhile." She heard the much older man smirk. Wait, he wasn't complaining about being called Brad? Well... that's new.

"Can't help it. Probably got used to talking to you this way." He replied in a much lighter tone. "I haven't seen you in months. And we only talk on the phone because of business and money not to mention Schu's rather forceful way of trying to please the younger man by getting you to work double time with these things." He paused. "And even if I would visit you in my free time... You'd be too busy with other financial things. And yes, I saw your question in my vision."

She laughed lightly lightening the serious façade off our dear American. She made him feel more human despite his gift. Soon after they had become friends, he admired her ways of dealing with things. Maybe the fact that they've been in so many funding oriented battles and in the sidelines taking a brake in some expensive café and making fun of people behind their backs and his visions about the café waitress going to flirt with the guy next to their table and fail miserably. He wasn't in love with her really, more of a special bond. Like mutual understanding or something like that. Best friends most probably, he had been given the responsibility of taking care of her, it was as her brother wanted before he left.

Also, despite her youth, she had the value of a sage and maturity of a much sophisticated woman. She was so-called, one of the 'old-but-young-looking' people. Never did they realized that she was really young but took time to fully fledge her intelligence and simply agreed that she looked so young at such age of 35. Then she'd curse them behind their backs for calling her old, which he'd watch with amusement and maybe even give her tips in how to contain her anger especially when he wasn't around nor was her brother to get her emotions on a stable pace. She looked sophisticated all the time but in a world far from business she was short-tempered but enjoyed the usual fun and games.

Yasumi was one of those few people who can separate her personal affairs with her money making strategies. And those were one of the few things he admired about the young woman yet it also saddened him in a way. Despite what most would do, take revenge on whoever murdered both her father and her brother she had shrugged it off, or so she appeared that way.

Does their death mean anything to her? Or could she care less? It scared him slightly... if he was murdered would she just come by his grave once and forget the whole scene had ever occurred? Would she do the same for Schu? He knew they were also very close, going around with nearly the same kind skills making fun of people's thoughts and emotions. He had to admit though it looked fun.

"Well, either way I have things I keep hidden from him as well... but to be totally honest with you." She said and the smile on her face had faded and then the pre-cog was back to no emotion zone as they walked on. "I am a little mad at that Fujimiya... because in a sense..." She stopped walking and so did the American. "He stole the demon's soul from my kinsman's ivory cage. But only the gods can send such a warrior of light..." (1)

He was taken aback by the serious and very symbolic words uttered by the young woman who's eyes were blazed with a anger he had never seen in his life. Why was she using symbols all of a sudden? They were alone were they not?

Then a vision flashed that he was going to be rammed by his partner, then be very much immobile in a tight embrace that he will lose all his dignity in. She must have sensed Ran nearby and decided to keep the conversation as a puzzle so if overheard by Schu he would have a mind overload in trying to figure out the hidden meanings and finally give up.

"Everyone has the right to be in glee. Even if the demon himself has to stray from the cage of his past's master in order to be glad then he must. It wasn't the angel's sin nor the devil's ... to be locked in the hands of both the loved and the forlorn." (2)

**-Flashback-**

He walked along the dirt pathway outside the gym, separated from all the other buildings in the district. His shoulder length blood-red hair tied in a low ponytail. A clear but not pale complexion along with a muscular frame to boot and was tall. He was very good-looking and violet eyes that soothed the shadow of the moon. He was feeling a little bored since his sister had taken over family affairs. And he had move to another school, AGAIN. This was the 4th time this month and he was tired of it. Why can't he just go to home school? Surely it was more expensive but at least it wouldn't be so troublesome to keep moving and paying what's more than really necessary. But they said that their homes maybe tracked down and they'll be raided with all sorts of life-takers.

Their father had been killed 3 months ago and now they were trying to solve the case. But still, even with all the hacking equipment they couldn't find anything. They had to find the actual hide-out and deal with them personally. But right now, they had to keep moving places till they find their little sanctuary.

He sighed at all the ideas in his head. Placing a hand in one of his pockets. Silence was something he barely treasured, unlike his sister he enjoyed sound a lot but not enough to pop his ears out. It gave things more life, if he had chosen he'd pick sound over sight. Unlike other people who'd choose the other option. But he believed in inner beings, he believed life had more than just an outer shell. It also had an inner ghost and an emotional substance. He stopped walking and sighed.

_Woah... Slow down, Kogo. You're thinking like one-san... But heck, she's a lot wiser than I am... She being 3 minutes and 15 seconds older and all. Haha! Ya, what a big diff.! _He thought as he kept pounding in what to do now in such a dull lunch break without his dear twin to make fun of and laugh at. Despite she being older, she was the girl and so Kogoyoshi being a man and all took the liberty of being 'dominant'. Hah, if you ask me that way of life sucks. But Yasumi, being the cunning little fox had several back attacks that hit him 5 times harder. She's... let's say very sensitive.

As he reminisced on Yasumi's several physical painful punishments he felt he was being watched from the forest. Quickly, he looked in said direction already in a stance, fists up and ready for combat. Learning the family's martial arts was one of their heirlooms. So both siblings knew how to kick ass and not to boast but they were good at it too. "Who's there?!" He called out warningly. And in on cue around 8 students, all men and all ugly holding chains and weapons of sorts came out from the tree infested area. The one in front who seemed to be the leader of the delinquents had an evil smirk plastered in his very disgusting features. His hair was spiked and dyed green. He recognized the man to be from his senior batch and let go of his stance, he stood up straight and put a hand on his waist.

"What are you doing with all the equipment?" He said agitated at the disturbance of remembering the good past. Not too mention disturbed by the sheer ugliness that is them. And staring at the low-class weapons in their possessions, Yasumi had a private collection of weapons at home and took the whole wall of the living room to stack by class and type. She had it secretly kept there and Kogo was allowed to borrow when REALLY needed. At some point it looked like she loved those things more then her own relative.

"Kogoyoshi, one of richest of students in Lunaris High! The heartthrob who stole all the women!!!"

"Well, I'm Kogoyoshi... I'm that rich? People here must be out of business. I'm a heartthrob? Really?!" _Better thank, Yasu for being a more skillful businessman...I mean woman. Damn, sometimes I forget she's a girl coz she hits too hard...And girls think I'm good-looking... Neat. _(A/N: He's a little slow compared to his female sibling, ne?)

"Shut up! We did not give you authority to speak!"

"Huh?" Kogo asked pretending to be confused. He found a bit of entertainment.

"Shut up!" The leader said a little louder.

"What?"

"SHUT UP!"

"Eh?..."

"Quiet..."

"Oh... ok."

Silence...

Kogoyoshi laughed mentally. He's seen cockroaches smarter than these freaks. Heck a toddler was probably smarter. "Well, then... I'll be off." Kogoyoshi spoke, a charming smile on his face. Heading to his current destination, closed his eyes pleased that he had fooled them easily. Then somehow, there was a shadow right above him and an eerie sound of breathing. He stooped and looked up to see a man with a build twice as large as he was, his body was huge and overly muscular which made him very much repulsive. His face filled with anger and hatred. Kogoyoshi swallowed hard at the sight before him. He doesn't have his trusty sister to back him up now, damn the money she loves to make... The men from the woods closed in him from behind._ So they want to play do they?_

"You think you can trick us, Matsutaka?! Get ready to pay! We'll make you so ugly that all the girls will just have to take us!!!" They got ready, holding their weapons like it was their key to greatness. The large man in front of him, with a yelp of power drew a punch downward which Kogo evaded with ease.

He stepped back and snickered. The men had encircled him and yet he kept his cool and collected mode._ Finally, a worthy adversary for the champion known as boredom. Just hope those teachers don't find me... Nee-san will come by the school in give me those 'you-can-whoop-ass-just-don't-get-caught' sermons. _He made the stance he did earlier. "I bet I can finish all of you in 20 hits..."

"Did you find anything, Schu?"

"Nope. Not anything. I've scanned all the minds in the cafeteria. And they have nothing to do with any of the 2 people."

"I see."

Crawford and the German were walking near the gym. Pretending to be completely lost by taking a much longer route to the building where the American worked in. There were carrying files and a few boxes of supplies along with them. Taking the route in the back of the gym where the American had an unexpected vision.

**-End of Flashback-**

Once again the four had walked into a room of light. And in the middle was a woman with corpse-like blue eyes staring at them with a smile that she can miraculously muster. Her hair was placed up by a gold dragon headdress wearing long robes of blue and a print of a gold dragon on the back. She her feet bare and her skin was of a mocha color and her hair was brown. She was seated on a very extravagant cushioned seat.

Schuldig had a slap mark across the face and a huge lump behind his head despite the hat it was very much seen and looking very much in pain as he rubbed his 'wounds'. The unexpected punch was from the American for trying to hug him. And the slap was from Ran who didn't want to be molested while in front of other people so he took the prerogative to stop the scheme. While the raven headed woman couldn't help but giggle once in a while when she side glanced at the telepath who was in 'pain'. And received the usual death glares and complaints for at least not being pitiful for him or at least siding him for he was 'just' but the woman just laughed at him more for being an idiot and he'd get into a silent state and curse Brad and try to find a way to make peace with Ran for 'accidently' touching his ass.

"Good to see you haven't freezed yourself to death, Rai. Is it too cold?" Yasumi asked as she finally able to talk seriously without laughing. And the other soulless beauty shook her head. "I'm sorry to request you when you're healing from the accident 2 days ago. I'm really sorry you had to go through that. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"No, Yasumi-san. It's been fine. It wasn't anything I cannot heal from. I know you're doing this for a good reason. This to thank you for helping me assemble emotions I had lost in the past, it is my way of showing my gratitude for me to able to work under you. It's been a real honor." She said rather lifelessly but made Yasumi smile. Real necromancers can't emote, but she had taught her to do so even the slightest bit she had relearned how to smile. But what was going to happen next was sad, yet she kept her smile.

"This will be the terminus of the old dragon? (3) " She said and Yasumi nodded. Rai turned to look at Ran who stared back at her, bewildered by her composure. She had a more powerful air compared to Yusuru it was almost captivating to just look at her. Like a goddess she was, the goddess guardian to the gate to the spirit world. "Child, take my hand..." She said and put it out for him to hold. "And I will bring you to your friends."

He didn't understand what she and Yasumi talked about. It was too symbolic for him to decode quickly. Schuldig pushed him little and urged him to move forward which he followed with a small nod. He touched her cold palm and before he knew it he was surrounded by light in the world far from his own.

TBC...

Oh no... left a big cliffhanger there. Ahaha... didn't really mean to do that honestly... oops. Oh wel, just wait for a few days and another chap will be up just for you. -grin-

here's the trans for the rather poetic words, that's if you don't know it:

1. "Schuldig is going to fall in love with another person just because he looks like brother. He having the same looks brother has... is but a sin to me. Like he's using him to replace my own relative."

2. "Schuldig has the right to do as he pleases like everyone else despite what he had done before and who he was with before. It is not both their fault for falling in love because they have a past not worth knowing."

3. "This is my end? My last service to you?"

Hahaha... confusing? Sorry. Can't help it. -grin-

By the way, forgive my typos. Been in a rush coz sembreak is over and I wanted to finish it before that.

Thanks for saying your sentiments! And reading and reviewing! THANKS!!!! -happy-

R&R.

Flames must be given in a polite way.


	8. Chapter 7

Forgive typos! R&R!

Disclaimer: I don't own Weiss Kruez

Claimer: I think you know who they are...

Locked

Chapter 7

_Where am I? _Ran thought as he looked around to study his surroundings. It was pure white and extremely bright it was nearly a miracle that he wasn't blind yet. Unlike the abysmal and cold of the building this place was bright and warm. He thought for a while to remember how he got there. _First was, the dark,... pervert touched me,...then Lady Rai's hand then... here_. He looked around again and despite the empty and quiet area he felt at peace.

"Yo, Ran. How's it been?" A voice said behind him, a very familiar one that was low and that of a grown man. He turned back quickly and saw his old teammates. Sena, smiling brightly at him and the much older man with a grin, he almost thought he would cry at the sight of them but he quickly sucked it back, he didn't want to get all emotional just yet. They were in their mission clothes but more white-ish colored as compared to a live mortal. Like the ghosts that they are, that even their own clothes looked pale.

"It's been all right..." He said in his slightly impassive tone, it was hard to hide his joy and curiosity all at the same time. He wondered where the two went... heaven or hell? How were their lives after life? Was it painful? A blessing? Better than their life on earth? Millions of questions popped out all at once that he didn't know what to say next. And this meeting place, where were they and how did they all get here?

"Oh?... I bet it's been hell." Kyo replied with an eyebrow arched up. "You were in the brink of suicide just a few days ago..." Aya shot back up at the word 'suicide', he totally forgot about that because then he was lonely but now... was he having second thoughts? "Hah! I knew it! The dead know everything...." He said in scheming tone.

"Kyo... don't sound like a stalker..." Sena remarked still smiling. And then looked at Ran with an even brighter beam. "You look so much better now! Yay that Germa!- ooops..." he said and covered his mouth at the realization on what he was about to yell out in victory. Kyo slapped his own forehead and let it run down his face with a hint of irritation in his features.

"Hah! And you said to not sound like a stalker! Way to go kid! Thanks for spilling our secret!" Kyo said upset and looked away from both of them. "Now, we'll get beaten up before we get back home... Wonderful."

Sena laughed nervously, his eyes closed as he scratched his head while facing Aya. "Oh no..." Ran's eyes narrowed as he stared t both of them. What ever this is... it didn't look like a topic to brighten his day. "Well, Aya, as you know..." Sena began to explain, the swordsman's eyes were claiming for the info and he could do nothing but allow it trample him like a dog. "We're... dead. And because of that... We can watch the people in earth... do... stuff." He said in a happy tone like he was teaching a kid with all the cheap hand gestures. He tried to from a guy with his left hand with both his index finger and middle finger as legs and the other hand was used to try to imitate a dog and he did all the sound affects. Somehow, if people were stupid enough this could be better than flash movies.

After awhile, the boy said nothing relevant to the explanation as he was using his hands to make up for the lack of toys he had ever owned in his life as a mortal being. The so-called dog out of his right hand had now become the oh so terrifying worm like creature who was now eating his left hand that served as the damsel-in-distress with a very queer squeaky voice, yelping for help quite loudly despite being within the destructive jaws of the vicious creature. Kyo stared at him weirdly and Ran just tried to glare but couldn't because it was too strange all together... oh look now somehow, the girl turned into superman and was now beating up the 5-toothed creature.

Kyo cleared his throat and Aya shifted his gaze at him. The younger man didn't bother to listen as he was in-trance in his own imagination. "Anyway... We can watch anyone we like whenever we want."

"Anyone?... Seriously?" He said not so happily and the axe wielder nodded. If this was true then he can watch him anytime. Anywhere, in the bathroom... And yes, the list goes on and on. "So you you've been stalking me?..."

"Well, not really. We're like... 'guardians'." He exaggerated and now the younger assassin was on the ground still not paying mind and was still in the play world of his inner child. "Anyway, we've been watching everything from where we are. Nice really to know things you guys can't. That's why Miss Yasumi comes by and asks us to do stuff for her. She's really nice so we don't really mind." Aya let it sink in... this meant, that they know the thing in the dark and the floor incident... oh no... He shrugged it off first and decided to vent his anger another time.

"So she knows a lot of things through this?"

"Frankly, yes. You see, technology even at its greatest peak is limited so then Yasumi had devised a plan called 'Lock'." He motioned the red head to look at the infinite white solitude of the zone. "What we are doing now is part 'Lock' itself. No information gets out, and the only way for the living to get here is by the powers of necromancy and of course Yasumi. She comes here and seeks for the souls who are willing to do her bidding in exchange the chance to see their loved ones in-person. This place is the actual area that exists in between earth, heaven and hell, the subconscious of a necromancer." He sighed. "But it has limits too... Sad to say... Telepathy can block such things. IF they are aware of being watched... But if not. Well, too bad."

Aya looked surprised, a place devised by man in between all worlds, how is that possible? This is how Yasumi gets all her information and in exchange to see the ones they love the most so this meeting in a sense this was Kyo's and Sena's wish, to see him? So that would mean he could see them again if the young president bought the time?

"So, wait, what about souls like that 'Safron', I'm sure you know about it right?" He asked intriguingly. "Can they see everything?"

Kyo shook his head sadly. "They are lost souls. They can see others like them but they can never come here until they have been judge or at least allow themselves to be. They are too attached to earth that's why they can't leave.- And Sena, can you stop with the hand stuff and the damn sound affects?!" He ended his speech with a complaint and finally Sena looked up to pay attention, his eyes glowing with innocence. And he stood up with a smile.

"Problem?" He asked the older a man who gave him a dry glare.

"Nevermind..." he sighed in reply then looked back at his leader with a scheming grin on his features. "So, do you want to look at someone in particular?"

llllll

Time Check, 6:18 am

Crawford waited inside the limo, as it drove round and round. His legs crossed and had the usual dignified air surround him. The car stopped and his female co-worker slipped in with ease and let the man outside close the door for her. Then again the car started its way toward its destination. Yasumi took the dark shades she had on thus revealing her nearly inhuman colored orbs, her hair flipped at the movement then she stared out the window upon leaving the gates of a mansion she watched the people making their way in the clean streets of Tokyo. They looked like they were all in a hurry and she also glanced at the shops and other interesting things she could lay eyes on. The American turned to look at her and he gave a polite smile, though silent it wasn't at all awkward. They both knew this type of silence should be treasured especially if their German comrade had tagged along.

"I doubt I have to say what happened because you probably already know." She said in her serious tone but with a hint of sassiness. "It was like hell, thanks for not warning me about it."

He smirked. "I thought you'd be able to handle it yourself so I decided to stay. And not tell you" As usual a formal response from Mr. United States but I guess it would be something she's already use to it. "Do you like him?"

"I wouldn't have shot my dark side if I do like him..." She sighed out and leaned back on her seat and shifting her glance to look at the American. "I don't want to get married... Curse step mothers, have you noticed how cliché they are in one's life?" She said without a second thought which made Crawford laugh slightly and then he relaxed on his seat more to enjoy their ride. It would be silent for a while so he predicted.

llllll

_He's so beautiful...How did the gods make such a creature..._

The German said longingly in his head. He was on the floor on the side of the bed, kneeling by his little kitten who was sleeping soundly. He was deeply captivated by the younger man, who was breathing slowly and silently. His face was glowing with splendor and the German couldn't help but lick his lips at the tension of the rather dirty and others rather romantic of thoughts that entered his brain.

They were in a dimly lighted room, warm it covered in violet velvet walls. Unlike most rooms in the hide-out this wasn't as mystifying. It was warm and cozy here and had a small scent of jasmine. If he knew right, this is where Yasu would take a nap or if is she couldn't drive back home. He recognized it at the scent, if he knew his friend right Jasmine was one of her favorite of scents. He was happy to have a friend with such rich taste in things. If he were to sell the room it would be above 1.4 million yen, he's hanging out with the right people at least. Crawford himself without the assistance of his business associate was very wealthy. Yep... He had the right bunch of friends, rich, successful, not to mention at times fun to joke around and make fun of... Sometimes.

He then broke away from that topic to focus on Aya. He had been asleep for nearly an hour; he was curious on what was already happening and in a sense was very envious of his deceased teammates. He wanted to be the one Ran would talk to all the time, the one the younger redhead would stare at lovingly, kiss goodnight, and say those 3 words to him with heartfelt affection and everything else any other lover would share with his partner.

But nooo... He had to wait and gain his trust...

Sometimes, he thought he was too dependent on Natsumi's advice.

But she's always right...

Damn her wise sense of making decisions...

He sighed. How he ached so much for him, to feel him all over in places he was never allowed to explore. He knew in a sense that Ran wanted that too. He just had a hard time expressing it but he knew he would to take that barrier of his and be able to hold him tight without fear of making the kitten traumatized or fall into a rather confused state. He wanted his lover to love him back when he was there. And that's why his mission of bringing Ran back to life was almost half complete but not enough.

He thought of things he knew about Ran. What he likes to do and what he dislikes were a bit challenging, they were very opposite in character but that's what he loved about the sword master. Like ice cream of a new tremendous flavor, icy and cold and hard to swallow but oh so delicious, and once you've had that taste of Eden slide through your tongue you'll never be able to withhold the desire of tasting it again, knowing that you'll never grow tired of the sweetness because it would have changed in flavor but still give you the lust for it more and more and soon you'll be to addicted to it and think of nothing else. It will become your lifeblood, your own soul.

But heaven he loves it... He loves the feeling of life poured into him, he knew if it stopped he'll be left famished for him.

That thought hit him really hard once. Yes, now he was really sure he fell in love with him. The same power of the past had overflowed within him. He was sure of it and even, maybe, it was stronger.

Stronger than any bad memories.

llllll

A huge screen was playing the scene of the German, who was now sweetly staring at the younger red head and was caressing his cheek as he slept soundly. The screen thus covered by the whiteness of the area. Aya was blushing quite visibly at the sight played before him. Though his soul was not exactly in his body, somehow he can feel the warmth of the telepath's hand on his face. He touched his cheek unconsciously, trying respond to Schu's gentle touch.

_Schu..._

"Kyo... I think someone is forgetting we're here..." Sena's voice said mischievously behind him and Kyo nodded in agreement, with corresponding 'yes, yes'. Aya froze in place; he completely forgot he wasn't alone... He cheeks were redder now in embarrassment. He wanted someone to take him back now then be teased by these two. "He's so in love... look at him stare at the German..." Aya was even more flushed at the remark and the same time denying it. He wasn't in love... he just found it...nice.

Yeah...

Right.

"But kid you have to admit though," Kyo interrupted and then added shortly in a very happy voice, "He's so hot!!"

A tumbleweed passes by with the sound of cold wind along with it. Indeed, the wind is very cold, oh so cold.

"But he is!!!!" The older man whined.

"Kyo..." Sena spoke up to break the uneasiness of their surroundings. "because I'm you're friend. And I'll live you for the rest of my after life... I will pretend that you didn't say that..." The young assassin said with pauses and Kyo nodded.

"Ya you're right... We didn't have that conversation..." The awe wielder answered. "Never happened." Aya cleared his throat and what was left of the red hue. He looked again at the wide screen before him. He saw the telepath wipe away the bangs that had covered his own sleeping face when he moved slightly and then flash showily another charming smile at the sleeping figure before him and waited quietly for him to awaken.

The swordsman focused his gaze on the mind reader's facade. He was smiling brightly and waiting patiently for him to awaken. Then he wondered where they were. What happened to the other room? Had he really lost consciousness?

"Now you see that we can look at anything we like?" Kyo retorted and Ran turned back and gave a nod. They withdrew the image and once again only plain ivory surroundings have swallowed them. "What else would you like to see? I bet we only have a few minutes..."

He thought for a while. It was fine just staring at the German all day. He didn't mind that but then the 2 may grow tired of it or they sensed he was still curious in what they can show him. "Wait... You know Yasumi right?"

"Yep." Kyo answered. "Desert, right?"

Ran nodded. "What ties does she have around? You do recall she was a target and so was her brother right?"

"Well..." Sena looked up. "For one thing... She is tied to a lot of rich business men because of her father before he passed away. Wealthy by blood, they were a known clan of ninjas... They studied some form of magical art... I think. But she doesn't seem to be the dark beast like how Persia put it."

"A master of talismanic arts." Kyo continued. "You don't see that often anymore... If we know RosenKruez is more into 'people with born talents' but the twins were an exception but they kept running away. Custom made facilities, no care for budget... but that Yasumi is hardcore when it comes to financial income she doesn't stand for anything less than she deserves. Seeing her at work is like being whipped, we've watched... Those poor old men..." He added sadly and Sena nodded along vigorously. Aya smiled a little. The two have gotten a lot closer and happier. It must really be nice where they were sent to live another life. "But, Aya, why the sudden question?" Kyo asked.

The swordsman thought for a while and stared at the white walls, noticing that it was fading. He felt this meeting will come to an end very soon. "I feel as if... we've met before... Somewhere. And when I look at her eyes..." He looked down. Reminiscing on her angry gaze after the meeting they had earlier. "She looks at me... like she wants to make me feel guilty. It just makes me wonder how much she knows about Kritiker and the likes."

"Ahh..." Kyo replied. Not a moment to soon everything was turning black. "Time to leave, Aya." He smiled and the red head nodded impassively. "Take care, all right?"

"We'll see each other again." Sena gave out a once again cheerful smile. "Bye!" He waved.

Before he could reply and bid farewell he was pulled into a deep abyss.

llllll

_A dream. One can never have too many of those. Yet noone can really understand what they all truly mean. How minds are are able to create them, images that dance on the surface of naïve slumber and not allow the obscurity of the night to swallow them whole. Noone wants to be left in the dark, alone and uncared for. And that's maybe why we always have dreams to keep us company and make us feel safe in the dark. _

_That maybe the work of a dream... _

_But just as everyone will keep dreaming..._

_Everyone will always fall into darkness._

_And just as everything is consumed by shadows..._

_So does the reveries of the flightless angels... _

Time check, 6:55 am

He awoke once again in that same expensive vehicle he was in earlier in the morning. His eyes were disturbed by the sudden burst of sunshine. He was dizzy and felt like he was hit with a frying pan with a rough estimation of 30 whacks and 40 swings. And to see the same driver who was smiling mischievously. It was brighter now though and more people compared to the earlier hours of sunrise.

"Sleep well, love?" The German spoke with a much more devilish grin but still keeping his eyes on the road.

"I feel like some asshole squished my head with a bloody anvil." Ran answered. Though with not much emotion, you can obviously tell he was pissed. "I think my eyes are going to pop-out..."

"Ya... thought so. Heard worst. Had worst. I had a mission their once with Leo, Lupus and Crawf... Had to reason out with some dead gangsters who didn't wanna listen to Yasu. So we agreed. After all that we went back here with migraines from hell. Felt like I had some kind monstrous fist inside my mouth, I vowed never to enter there again... Makes wonder how Yasu can take it everyday..."

The swordsman looked at the telepath, slightly confused with his head tilted slightly. "She goes there everyday?"

"Yep. Everyday. Updated. New missions. New leads. New deaths. And new money." He said and gave a wider grin. He stopped the car as they were halted by the 'red light'. "And can I mention how adorable you look when you're confused?"

"Can you not?..." came an exasperated reply, then laid his back down on his chair. And he then received a sensuous chuckle.

"But you are..."He paused "And you're HOT when you're mad." Came a purr of pure lust leaving the swordsman to swallow his last bit of anger and concentrate in keeping quiet and still and as unnoticeable as he could as the vehicle was moving. He then heard another chuckle from the telepath whose eyes were back on the road. "And you're sexy silent..."

"Oh shut up..."

"Ahh... Kinky..."

"...Are you rating my behavior according to how your hormones react to it?..."

The German smiled. "Oh come on baby, you know you always turn me on..."

"Keep quiet, Schu..."

"Tell me why I should..." Came a playful tone. Aya knew this was not a good sign usually this would come with some kind of evil mind game.

"Because you're noisy..."

They took a turn as they drove on. "We have a lovely hour and a half  before we get to the park before we meet the 'used-to-be-young-but-look-old-now-but-are-not' people so I have all my lovely time to play with you..."

"Ahh... I can barely contain the overwhelming joy that is now uncontrollably building within my very inner being." The swordsman replied with pure sarcasm and Schuldig couldn't help but laugh.

"How about a game? If you win, I'll shut my mouth until you tell me to open it."

The bet was like some door to greatness to Aya. Silence from Schuldig was like trying to tell Farf that God still loves him and that he loves him despite his sins and he going to live in heaven. But then somehow it was too good to be easy to get... Which can only lead to one thing... "What kind of game?" The telepath smiled evilly in his own head. This is exactly what he was waiting to play for a long time after his vow not to read the red head's brain...

another one of those Evil Intimidating Mind Manipulation Scams which had now been called operation EIMMS.

"Well, kitty, it's very simple... you just have to do what I tell you to do."

"Schu... Nothing you ask for is simple..."

"I know." He said scheming some kind of evil plan, with an evil laugh that seemed to echo all over the car. And Ran just stared at the odd German.

"Umm... Maybe I'll just let you keep talking." He said after the long 5 minutes of evil cackling. The older man finally halted.

"No, no kitty... it will be simple. Promise." He said with an enchanting smile. The swordsman stared at him more then a fine eyebrow rose skeptically. "Give me your hand."

"My hand?"

"Yep."

"Ahh..." Unwillingly, but listened he did what was instructed of him. He stretched his right hand out which Schu took in his own. As a few seconds passed, they went into a tunnel. It was dim and there were no cars around. But the car kept moving at a normal pace.

"Ran..." The telepath said in a low voice. And the younger red head turned to look at him, immediately seeing his gaze. He couldn't help the rush of blood cover his face. He knew the German was indeed very attractive but then what made him even more captivating was the way his eyes gave a glow he had barely bumped into when he was 'kidnapped'. Schuldig's warm hand around Aya's gave him a feel of security, the same hand that led him through the dark. "don't ever let go of me..." He intertwined his fingers with the younger red head as they laced together. He then brought the pale delicate hand to his lips and kissed it lightly making the sword wielder turn even redder. "Is that simple?"

"Yeah..." The younger man responded. Relaxing in his seat his hand still held by the German, both their hands on the foreigner's lap. He peered at their hands and smiled warmly. "it is."

TBC...

-faints- I had a slump... Which sucked... but I hope this is ok. Despite the typos I must have let EVERYWHERE. AAAAHHHH!!!! I need a beta... but I'll get one. One day.

Anyway, thanks for all those who READ and REVIEW. And just keep doing so. So I can write faster. And anyone here who has suggestions and stuff? Might inspire me. –grin- THANKS!!!

Forgive typos.

R&R!


	9. Chapter 8

A/N: Bad, bad writer's block… It was a really BAD writer's block. And I bet my writing for this chapter would be… eeehhhh… So um, I tried at least so I don't think it's that weird? Ahehehe… Well, anyway please R&R! Sorry again for a late update!

Disclaimer: You know what I don't own.

Claimer: You know this too.

Forgive typos

Locked

Chapter 8

**Reflection**

_Who's that?_

_Oh, him? He's the leader of the new generation of Weiss, of Kritiker. These three are his other subordinates._

_Haha! Really? Let me see!_

_Oi! Don't just grab the pictures like that! What if you tear it!_

_You can always make new ones!... Hmm…_

_What?_

_This red head is the leader?_

_Yap._

… _His hair and eye color is the same as yours and Yasu's._

_Yap._

… _he's fine…_

_Hey!_

_Why, Kogo? Jealous?_

… _No._

_Oh… admit it, you're jealous because I'm looking at another guy…_

… _No, I'm not…_

_Aww… Kogo is all angry coz the kitty is prettier than he is…_

_Of course he's prettier... At least I'm more masculine._

_I don't know… Maybe I like a guy with his build. Maybe I should go for him…_

_Are you planning to cheat on me?..._

…_Peace!_

_Ugh… go away…_

_Kogo! I was only joking!!_

_Ya, ya… Just leave I don't need you…_

_What?! No! Kogo!…_

…

_Kogo?!!_

…

_Oh, so that's how you want to play?..._

… _wait.. no don't… No… no!! Agh! Don't- HAHAHAHAH!!! Wait, no, stop! Stop!- HAHAHAHAHA!!! Danmit Schu, quit it!!! _

**End of Reflection**

Time Check, 6:58 pm

It was a windy night, cold and strong winds piercing through her black trench coat as if it were nothing. Before her was a large building well equipped with guards and security cameras and iron gates to the more vulnerable sides of the company. The moon was full, glowing in a much more blue-ish dangerously mysterious gleaming object mingled in uncanny darkness. Crawford stood by her side and so did the German waiting for a cue to go in and get what they came for. And the current of air, howling and toying with their clothes and hair, like a blood hound in the middle in a most bountiful morsel of his dead prey.

"Where's Fujimiya?" The American asked the German, his arms crossed atop his chest.

"With the two kids and the jail boy, they should be having dinner by now." He replied and gave a loud sigh. "I hate to leave him…But I'm sure with Nagi he'll be safe." With that the wind blew stronger making the German winced slightly as it pained the much more revealed parts of his body. It was almost autumn but the wind was uncomfortably strong even at this time. "This wind is unnatural, yes?"

"Definitely." Yasumi replied. She brought a yellow talisman and a impassive expression plastered on her face. "Let's go."

llllll

It's been a pretty long day. After Ran had met up with Omi in the park, after being glomped and cried for 15 minutes. Schuldig had to go and take care of matters elsewhere and left him in the care of Nagi, with the several do's and don'ts like he was some kind of cat or something. They then drove to Ken in jail; much to Ran's surprise looked really well-fed and well-built. And another long unwanted hug and more tears for about 20 minutes and then Omi started crying again for the heck of it for 10 minutes. Seriously, all the crying takes up more than enough time, luckily for him Nagi was quiet through most of the time. So after emotional moments together they all decided to hang out.

They watched a movie, a very weird movie for them to watch actually, one of those romantic episodes where the 'evil' twin brother steals away the hot-female lead. Also with Ken's constant 'DON'T DO IT!!' to add to the effect which gave him glares from all corners of the cinema for interrupting the intense sticky situation when the 'real' brother comes in and sees his lover in the hands of his own blood and with all the misunderstandings and the rest of the fixing problems and the ending is all crappy and mushy and of course happy. Oh, the truism.

After they had lunch at 2:10 in the afternoon and went around the mall and stare at the things for sale and the several couples and cliques here and there. Somehow seeing them reminded the sword master about what he and Schu would look like together but then dismissed the thought as fast as he could possibly could. He was here to hang out with his friends, not to think of the German though it would happen much more often compared to before. He had to admit he was good-looking but what these thoughts can become is indeed menacingly… green. After all the walking they went to the much more open area of the mall. Where there was a fountain and less people, a perfect place to talk, laugh and maybe pick on each other.

Now they were right beside that place, a night full of stars. The fountain danced and the lights inside of it were changing into different hues making it all the more spectacular. They were waiting for their orders for a good supper, in a seafood restaurant. People walking about in different directions, talking, eating and some were just keeping to themselves.

Ran stared at the table top, blinking a couple of times to see if anything would change. The Nagi was being the silent one as usual and the other two were engaged in some conversation, which he didn't pay much attention too. He had some burning feeling in his gut like something bad would happen, it wasn't possibly because of hunger, Schu had left him with Nagi after receiving a urgent message from 'Scarlet Sage' which he would presume was Yasumi who must've gotten a new codename other than 'Desert' so that Omi wouldn't get suspicious. It was hard to forget a cancelled mission especially since there were very few of them. He turned his head to gaze at something else, a happy couple. By the fountain, marveling at the rich hues and the winking stars above them, laughing and joking around.

It felt good to see people like that… he just wished it was him… and…

"Oi, Aya!"

He snapped out of the trance instantly, then found himself looking at a skeptic Ken. "Yes?" he said before any interrogation could start.

"I was asking on why you're with Schuldig and Crawford." He said a little seriously.

"They saved my life. I'm sort of grateful, I don't think they want to kill me." He answered. _Yet…_

"You trust them?"

"In a sense," he paused. "Well, I wouldn't have met you guys here if it wasn't for them. Which makes me wonder…"

"Wonder about what?" Omi asked, joining into the conversation.

"Where is Yohji?"

There was no response. He was right… they did sort of forget about him. Not in a sense that they didn't care but more in the path of 'oh ya, he's suppose to be here… where is he?' direction.

"Scarlet Sage said it was too early for you to meet him," Nagi broke the silence and they all glanced at him. Finally he decided to speak. "Although she did promise that you'd all at least see each other today but there was change in her time table to why Schuldig had to leave a little early. But she promises you'll all see him again."

"Who's Scarlet Sage?" Ken asked confused. Just then 2 waiters walked beside their table, giving them their ordered meals and then walked away. They started separating their chopsticks and then getting whichever delicacy they'd like to put on their plates.

"An old friend of Schwarz. Up until now Scarlet is still well connected to us." The telekinetic answered, still his voice impassive. He took a sip of his tea. "It just so happens that she decided to help in investigating Kuduo's sudden disappearance."

"Ahh…" Ran retorted after putting some calamari on his plate. "Do you know what Schuldig is doing right now?"

"Well, a mission obviously. If I know he's with Crawford and Sage. I'm not so sure on what they're doing because I don't get briefed about it…" He paused. "When you guys were in Weiss, do remember any missions concerning a company called SEAL?" Omi was in the middle of downing his cold beverage when he heard the company name and nearly choked. SEAL, how can any of them forget? It was one of those cancelled missions that were way too life risking and not only that it was instantly closed before any agent in both Kritiker and Esset or any other bureau can further investigate or retrieve any details. "Well, SEAL had been a reason of one of Scarlet's best agent's disappearance according to the information she had retrieved already. Sadly though, that's all I know."

_Yasumi's best agent?… A recent disappearance. Wouldn't that mean?!_

"_**But the sad thing now is... Crimson, also known as Kogoyoshi Tsujiimoto had died in a mission. And now only his sister, Yasumi is alive."**_

His thoughts trialed back to what the German had told him earlier that morning. Of course! Kogoyoshi was an agent for his own family investments, he literally worked for his sister who was the President. But Disappeared? Does that mean that the body of the mythical killer known as Crimson is missing? How sure are they that he's dead? Oh yes, he already figured that out. 'Locked', the supernatural simulation that destroys all rules of logic, science, and technology that Yasumi had created, like an eye of God peering at his own creation. There's no way he could be alive without them knowing he is.

Just then a gust of strong winds passed by with a swoosh. Women screamed at the fact that their skirts were lifted. Then it became calm but everything was still swaying at its rhythm. _I wonder what Schu is doing?... _

llllll

Schuldig hid behind the large metal container, an object mostly seen on top of large trucks. His pistols in hand, once they entered they were immediately ambushed well not completely surprised because Crawford had already warned them about it, Yasumi had sensed it, and Schu had a thorough mind scan of the area to find anyone. Obviously they were expecting them to come. The telepath grinned, all the more fun to kill when there are more than one target, armed, and moving. Playing the predator was always his best attribute. With that he rolled out off his hiding place, shooting the man up the metal steps in the head and the other 2 who came out through the door. So much for back up…

They were in 3 different places, window, warehouse, and front door. The telepath chose the warehouse, Yasumi through the window like a burglar and the least fortunate front door with the American. If his guess was right, the pre-cog would already be on his way up, in a dignified fashion and the young president would be cleaning up the dirt and on her way to the main computer or generators of such.

And the lights just turn off… Yap, she got to the generator.

He started his walk, up the metal steps, stepping on the guy he just killed and found himself in the lobby full of dead people not a drop of blood anywhere. _Brady's doing… _With that, he unloaded his pistols and replaced them with fully loaded cartridges; it's dark now so he should be more careful.

/Brad, where are you?/ He spoke mentally

/Going towards the fourth floor, quit calling me Brad…/ Came an impassive response. Schuldig chuckled.

/Yasu, where are you?/ He spoke again mentally this time linking with the female assassin.

/Running towards the main computer… It's in the basement. The main office is in the tenth floor, better watch out, there'll be more men pouring in on top. Look for any sort of files that link with the 'morph'./

/Is the main man here?/ The German purred. Finally making his way up the staircase.

/No. Not right now at least./ She answered. /I'm here at the main computer. Crawford are you in the 10th floor?/

/Ya./ Came the American once again. /Schu, you find the files I'll kill off the lackeys./

/No problem./ Came a half serious reply. He made his way faster up the steps, before he knew it he was already at the 10th floor.

llllll

She took her mini laptop from her trench coat pocket, connected the thin wire to one of the parts in the large computer. It was pretty dark but the light from her cross gave her just enough to see what she was doing. She turned on her laptop and quickly got connected with the master computer. Only using her right hand, slender fingers typing rapidly breaking through various firewalls and coded files and saving it into her own computer.

_I see… There are files here on Yusuru too… Wait, what's this? _She told herself. Seeing a strange looking folder she had unlocked just recently. She double clicked it, her eyes widened and let out a soft gasp of what she saw. _No shit… Signum… You son of a bitch…_ Instantly she saved the files and closed her laptop.

/You guys done there?/ She asked in the mental link.

/Yeah, I found some good files./ The redheaded telepath replied.

/All right./ She responded and started making her way out. She felt something twist in her gut. Is this… a negative premonition?

/Oh shit!!/

llllll

He awoke, feeling his brain trying to break out of his head. And then suddenly, it became soothing and comfortable. He sat up and looked around saw his own bedroom, all the luxury and the richness. His bed in the same fabrics and pillows but there were two things missing… Ran and… his telepathy.

"Holy shit…"

He tried to scan a nearby mind. Nothing. All he got was a headache and silence, he shook his head. He can't read thoughts now, although he wasn't sure if it was permanent and he can only feel small things. He did have the power for a long time, he obviously picked up deduction skills from it.

"Good you're awake…" he heard a woman's voice by the doorway. He turned and saw Yasumi and behind her was Ran, looking impassive but at some pint he saw a flash of anguish in them. Was he worried? "Crawford is still unconscious…" She walked in deeper into the room and so did the red head behind her as he closed the door. "You lost your telepathy, no?"

"Ya…" He paused. "Did you lose any of your spiritual power?"

"Yap… More than half." She replied with a sigh.

"What happened?" Ran asked and they both looked at him. His cool voice still intact. Weiss said their good byes, long ones with more of those crying things, he didn't really want to leave but he had to and he knew that. After a car from Tsujiimoto came to pick him, accompanied by several agents, when he got to the house he found Yasumi pacing in the living room. They placed Schuldig in his own bedroom and gave Crawford one of the available guestrooms and Ran also slept in his own room for once. He felt lonely to sleep alone now, he didn't know why. It was now 9 in the morning and to his eyes Schuldig had lost most of his haughtiness, his usual arrogant fire had diminished.

"Smoke." The German answered. "Thick, blinding smoke. It smelled like dry ice. Next thing I knew it I was here." Yasumi nodded.

"It's a spell, a binding spell. It's used to take away your energy but in this case it's Schuldig's and Crawford's psychic abilities." She paused. "it's not permanent though but it lasts long, depending how much you've already inhaled…"

"So… you don't know how long my telepathy will be disabled?" German asked a little irritated. And the young president shook her head. "Joy…This is going to be hard to deal with…"

TBC…

A wonder how many typos I had there. Just try to ignore them. –smile-

Anyway! Please! R&R!!!

**R&R!**

**R&R!  
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**And thanks to all those who do R&R!!!**


	10. Chapter 9

A/N: Sorry for the bad cliff hanger in the last chapter. –grin- 'Coz you know cliff hangers have their own importance… They make people curious so they have more urge on finding out what will happen. Hehe. Well duh, you know that but you know… I wanna make a point. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Thank for all your reviews! They help me a lot! THANKS TO ALL!!!

Please forgive my typos.

Disclaimer: Yeah… You know the same old story… I also don't own a line/s somewhere down there.

Claimer: Don't steal my stuff. Coz I don't steal yours.

Locked

Chapter 9

It's been a week since the mission.

A very long and annoying week to be precise. Ran never got any peace and his now far more greatly treasured time and solitude. He couldn't even set foot out the garden which he adored due to the number of security guards who has been seen everywhere and resting outdoors was their 'thing'. In every room, in every corner, there was at least one buffed man in a neat black suit wearing dark tinted sunglasses. You need more than dozens of well trained protectors to make up for 2 psychics?

Well, you do so believe it.

Crawford was ordered to stay in the house and was told that it was too dangerous to leave by the back-up company known as the MaiDAN corp., another company run by a the Tsujiimoto family ally. Being overprotective and a much older sibling toward the Tsujiimoto heir, they had locked her inside Schuldig's house along with all the protector's money and… love thatcan beoffered. This, leaving Yasumi to apologize with more then a thousand apologies for the intrusion.

Schuldig didn't mind as much as Ran did but then stated that if he was around that area they would have to leave his presence and so they followed. Where ever Schuldig walked the men would scurry away as if evading a plague. The younger red head had no liberty to ask that and didn't want to be rude, although if he was given a better shot he REALLY would. So instead he stayed near the German so then he would be given even the slightest bit of solitude aside from the times he had to use the bathroom. The older red head hadn't changed, still cocky, baring his usual grin but still smart and sassy.

The only real difference is that he made fun of him less. Crawford, even without his ability to see the future was very good in telling what 'would happen if you do this' or 'if you do that', it's like he really didn't need the pre-cog capability or never lost it. And Yasumi… He paused at the thought and momentarily stopped reading the 3rd book he bothered to scan since the day he got to the abode.

He hadn't seen Yasumi in 5 days. The last time was when she had done the 'thousand apologies' thing. But now it's like she was now lost in the abysmal terrains of the house… if there are any.

"Is something bothering you, kitty? You look a little tense…" Schuldig asked walking into the living room.

"Where's Yasumi?" He bluntly asked.

"…Well…is she even in the house?..." The German mumbled, thinking hard. Then his mood lit up. "Now I remember! She's in her room, with her laptop… she's been looking at those files we retrieved. Crawford would be with her usually but have you noticed he's been sleeping a lot lately?"

"Maybe it's hard to sleep when everything plays ahead of him and now that his precognition is gone he can sleep properly." Ran responded then went to getting back to his book. "Isn't it something like that when your psychic?"

Schuldig grinned. "Good point." With that he took a seat beside the swordsman, resting his chin on Aya's shoulder peering down at the book the younger red head was reading. "Still I Rise by Maya Angelou…"

"Ya… Very interesting poem." Aya remarked. Schuldig took his chin off Ran's shoulder and yawned sleepily.

"Crap… Now I'm sleepy…" The German grumbled and yawned again. "Is this a side affect? Crawford been sleeping like a log and Yasu… doesn't seem to be alive …" he yawned again for the third time and Ran looked at him worriedly. He was right, he looked really tired it was all too unusual even if it is for a spell.

The older red head looked at the book on Ran's lap and took it placing it on the coffee table with a small thud. Gracefully, he turned back and rested his head on the younger man's lap. He looked up at the younger man's face and saw some mixture of irritation and shock. Probably shocked at how casually he just rested his head on his lap and took away his very intriguing reading material. "That was mean…"

"Was it?" The German smiled mischievously, looking more than comfortable on the lap of the now agitated Aya. "Does my sexiness upset you?" He asked but only received a 'hn' in return. He gave another one of his trademark grins. He moved closer to Ran, putting his face on the younger man's stomach, giving him a hug and felt the other man shrug. Even if it was a weird situation for Ran, Schuldig felt all the more comforted by their closeness and maybe in a sense Ran too.

_It was just like this before…_

_No even better…_

After awhile his eyelids felt even heavier, wordlessly he began his trip to the dream world still surrounded by the scent of roses. Ran blinked, staring down at the now sleeping German and then blinked again. That was really fast. Too fast, who could sleep in just 60 seconds? He let out a sigh, oh well better then have him talk about how pretty he is…

He remembered what he was suppose to do but now barely even cared. Death… The word is but a long ring of Justice in his ear. But now it wasn't worth it. Life now was not worth giving up. He relaxed more, unconsciously started combing the strands of orange with his slender fingers. It was tangle-free and soft it didn't have a strong scent like those shampoos that may one day, due to toxins, make you bald but it had only a pinch of aroma but it was far better than anything he had sniffed the whole day.

Weird… Now he was talking to himself about scent. Not like anything else smelled good. But he remembered one of the guys in the hallway who was buffer than most. Disgusting. He smelled so nasty, some new level of body odor he presumed but he ran away but then Crawford came by. Never seen the walking fungus since…

He laughed a little at the small recollection of thoughts. Now that some time had passed he could escape, gently he pulled away the arms that were on his waist, lifting the older man's head, he positioned himself on the floor and placed the German down. He stood up, free from the other man, SUCCESS! Feeling triumphant, (but silently) he took a few steps towards his destination but then to feel something grab his knee he yelped and fell on his face and then to have something else fall on top of him. He cursed and looked at where Schu was suppose to be but to see no one. _Where in the?... _Then he felt something on top of him move.

Ahhh… Now he understood. He tried to lift himself up but then mysteriously couldn't, he knew he wasn't that weak to be unable to carry himself and the other man he WAS an assassin. Then, he felt his legs being hugged by the sleeping German. He cursed again.

"I love you, Ran…." Came a soft murmur from Schuldig's lips.

"I love you too, Schu but gods damn it get off…" He gasped and froze when he heard his own words come out of his lips. He felt like he said the worst of all profane languages. The L word… Then he stopped thinking about it and went back to trying to stand, this was not the time to think of those things, it was time to get up, walk away and THEN think of those things but no… he tried again to stand but still his struggles were futile.

"Umm…" He heard some one whisper and looked up to see three maids, one of them was Natsumi. "Do you need help?"

llllll

She continued to look into the files, in a sitting down on her bed typing away. No lights except the cross on around her neck and the light from the small monitor. But there was light at the foot of the door the crept in from the hallway. She was more concentrated in the files on Yusuru more than anything else right now. She has been asleep for 3 days in a row but she was neither hungry or thirsty in fact she felt more energized and alert, her spiritual power has been returned.

With that thought she stopped typing and looked at the side of the bed, frowning. "Come out… I know you're here"

At the commend, a pale figure of a middle aged man appeared at the place she was staring at. He was dressed in a neat suit, like the ones in the Victorian age. Despite his ghastly paleness, he was lean and good-looking his eyes shining blue.

"**You noticed." **He said a calm voice. And saw her nod. **"Those exorcists were lame. Don't tell me you sent them." **

She grinned. "Yes, it seems I've underestimated your level of malice. I should've came here to dispose of you myself well I can right now but I'm too busy so why don't you get yourself to do it?" She said and got back to her work. "Since now, that you can never see Yusuru again."

He laughed. **"True. But I have seen something more pleasurable. My dear friend… suppose we make a deal?" **He received no reply. **"I know this will not be your first time to deal with souls such as myself. In fact you made contracts with all sorts of demons, am I mistaken?" **

"No you're not," was her impassive reply. "That I know what ever you want is something I'm sure, I will not be able to help." With that remark came a laugh. She hated it, it was loud and exaggerated much like her stepmother's when she was flirting with the much older business men.

"**You already know my request, you are quite an interesting vixen…" **He paused. "**The hour of the dark feast has begun, I will have to pardon to myself from your presence… But before I do let me tell you, Signum isn't your ordinary enemy… You will need him."** With that he disappeared. Once he was out of sight she smirked. A malicious one, her eyes tainted with a devil stare and lips curved in a wide smile. The time comes at last…

llllll

Ran heaved a sigh. He was on the floor lying down on his back now no sleeping German on top of him. They had a strangely hard time getting him off. 5 maids… It was like the man wasn't even asleep. He looked at Schuldig who was on the divan facing the other direction and smiled.

_I love him, huh? That's great… _

He was alone in the living room now, the maids left Ran to inhale what oxygen was squeezed out when Schuldig just sat up and positioned himself to be able to give one of those 'hugs of death' and then they called for more maids and had to yank him out but somehow he never woke up.

It was a sadistic form of torture… he thought he was never going to stand up or die of suffocation.

But then he couldn't help but become closer and closer to the German. It was fearful and yet at the same time exciting and mysterious. It was a whole lot of emotions just jumbled up inside when he was with him and he didn't what it was called now. Schuldig provided him with the warmth he longed for since he had the idea of becoming an assassin. A passion he had lost since the time his sister feel into a coma and he was swallowed by a rage that now maybe if he met Reiji in hell he would kill him again just to tell him how much of a bastard he was and included in that kill list was suppose to Schwarz but ever since he was 'kidnapped' on the street that anger had faded away.

It was ironic really… because it was them behind the schemes of Reiji and yet he didn't really hate them anymore….

Okay…Maybe a little… Sometimes…

He looked up at the ceiling, he was clearly affectionate to his own muse to ponder on everything all over again. He missed Weiss but not as a bunch of killers but as a group of good friends. Which brought him to another question… where did Yohji go? Is he in another country? Is he an assassin again? He smiled. Well what ever the play boy was doing, it was clearly something very stressful or secret that not even Persia knows about.

He stood up lazily and then he heard a whisper pass him by. It was a slow uncanny whisper, with a chant far from understandable. It was as if it echoed through out the whole house but then there was only the yell of silence that answered back, making the caller whisper aloud again. It sent chills up his spine, he looked back at Schuldig but he didn't seem to hear it and fell even deeper into his sleep. He wanted to wake him up but somehow something told him he shouldn't and that he should walk… Walk and walk until he reached the owner of the eerie voice.

And so he did what was being asked by him. He knew as he walked and followed his intuition that the whole house was now dead to the world. He was the only one who can hear this voice and even the men that had to be posed on the hallway had vanished but he didn't care… All he wanted to do was follow the call. He felt his thought being missed and mashed together and a voice kept a steady chant in his head that he could barely understand but ignored. He stopped in front of double doors; slowly he entered and saw something far from what he was hoping to see.

llllll

"And then the gods sent down their must beautiful creation as a sacrifice to the demon…**_" _**She paused. She was seated casually on the large window sill. She was facing at the open window, viewing the dark sky with no moon or stars. Her voice was deep but elegant and clear like a true story teller and Ran was drawn by it as he entered deeper into the chamber, hearing the door click behind him as a signal that it was locked. "And as the creation allowed its self to be forsaken and to be swallowed by the evil incarnate for the sake of heaven and earth… the demon took one look at him… and loved him instantly…" At that line she turned back and stared at Ran who in turn stared back.

"You're not Yasumi… are you?" he asked trying not to shake. The air seemed to e getting thicker and the beating of his heart was throbbing in a rapid pace. It was getting harder to breathe, the air around him was thickening beyond imagination.

"No, I'm not." Came the really. It was a pleasing voice, a tone so pleasing to the ear that even the pettiest remarks would be forced out just for the people around to listen to it over and over. This was the accent that drew him to walk here and do nothing else. "I'm someone far beyond that… shall we say… an alter ego." There was another pause. "You don't know what just got yourself into, Fujimiya… You just don't know…"

"What's that suppose to mean?" He asked a little agitated and he received a devilish smile.

"Signum …" She spoke in that alluring whisper. "The same group who you've met that same day you saw yourself die…" Ran's eyes widened in disbelief. How does this person know what he went through?... "That same day… you knew that death would be wonderful. When that child came from out-of-the-blue and then a person appeared while you were in between your consciousness and your subconscious beliefs…"

"What are you?!" he asked much more aggressively and he received a soft mocking chuckle. He was quivering, trying hard not to remember what drove him to the path of madness and sorrow.

"Kogoyoshi Tsujiimoto. I know you've heard of me." Ran didn't reply, he was even lucky enough to spit a three word sentence at him but now he can feel his throat run dry and the air become even thicker. "Don't worry. Yasumi actually allowed me to possess her… Because you see, she likes you as much as I do which is not much I assure you. But for the sake of a friend, she will try to help…" He replied glaring at Ran maliciously. "She just has a better job at hiding hatred than I do. And my meeting with you today was just something she allowed me to do…" he paused. "I suppose this isn't the time to tell you why… but your involvement in this will cost not only your life but someone very close to you."

"Important to me…" Ran murmured. And Yasumi nodded, her feature more neutral now compared to the malicious stares she had previously been giving him. He thought for awhile… someone very important to him…

"And the same reason her life will be in danger… would be the same reason why she was taken from you by Esset…" Came the reply and Ran thought he would just die there, his beloved sister… Aya, to be taken from him again… would he be able to bear that same anger again without self-destructing? But he said nothing, he's completely running out of air. "I cannot protect her forever… you see Ran you're sister is special. Her blood… the reason why she didn't age in her coma was because of a mystery until today…" There was a much more intense pause compared to all the others.

"She is a sleeping necromancer. I am her guardian… just like that soul named 'Safron'… My job is to watch over her until I am able to rest in peace. The only way you are able to protect yourself and your sister from Signum is by earning spiritual or psychic prowess… You and your sister have a special line after all, it will not be as hard to learn." She paused again and stared at Ran, his glare had a deadly impact on her but she didn't allow herself to falter. Actually, it wasn't Yasu who was doing this but Kogo but physically that said otherwise. "I'm sure you're not one who would depend on others... Unless you want to burden him as well with your own muse and your own life…"

With that remark Ran just had to glare. Yasumi was obviously talking about Schuldig… it sounded revengeful but he didn't know why the woman would take a suddenly, a very different tone. The thick air was beginning to diminish now and Yasumi looked back out again at the night out the window. It was silent for a really long time and none of them wanted to speak or move.

"And the demon couldn't allow the mysterious being to fade from his sight. For the creature was an entity beyond beauty, beyond life…" Yasumi spoke finally, the continuation to the story she told earlier in the soothingly gentle voice. "Yasumi will teach you how to get your own power. We will simply tell everyone that you need the protection. I am quite late for the feast… this will not be the last time we'll meet." With that reply, the thick atmosphere began to diminish and Ran's uneasiness along with it.

llllll

_If I had a chance to take your place,_

_I really would._

This was too much for him to understand.

24 hours have passed since that meeting. It was now night time and neither Crawford nor Schuldig (who was moved to his room) has awakened. They were both sitting down on the floor of a large empty guestroom with large curtain draped windows, a single candle in between them for light.

The lessons weren't harsh or in anyway painful as he had expected it to be. It was just hard on the brain and took out most of energy because most of it involved the power of the mind and spirit. It also felt awkward, for one thing Kogoyoshi had told him that they both hated him and yet she seemed so gentle and patient with him for that passed days. He was confused, were they just fooling with him?

"Fujimiya, are you paying attention?" He stiffened at the call of his family name at the rather strict voice and got rid of his train of thought. "Listen, you have to pay more attention to the fundamentals of 'ki'. You should by now already know what is, since you wield a katana and it's part of training but this is retrieving 'ki' from the body and not surroundings. This is the reverse of what you've learned as a swordsman." She told him motherly and he nodded.

"You know that anyone who can properly manipulate 'ki' can do nearly anything. Most people retrieve aura from nature others take what is within them and strengthen what they have. But we're a little different, unlike most talismanic leaders we gain spiritual force by the strengthening of one's subconscious and creating a world between reality and imagination."

He tried his best to get as much info as he can. These were just basics and yet they weren't entering properly. "The Tsujiimotos are a family of illusionist. We confuse are enemies with magic tricks but just like all magic tricks… they are fake." She continued and took the candle by its gold holder. "The entity that is fire is indeed one of the forces to reckon with… if not well-controlled; it can reduce you to nothing."

With that said she put the open palm of the free hand directly above it. He stared at her in amazement, she want getting burned but the flame was evidently touching her hand. "Surely, you can see the flame that is suppose to be burning me now has no effect. But what is it that has to surely burn, me or the fire?" She moved her hand upward a centimeter away from its original position and the fire burnt out. And now they were surrounded by darkness.

"But how certain are we that there was any fire to begin with?" She asked and the then the cross around her neck began to glow.

He meditated on it for awhile. He wasn't confused as he was before, it was becoming clear. He knew she didn't like him but he can tell she was being sincere on wanting to help protect himself and his sister. And in other questions, how do you power up a sleeping part of your brain when it isn't even awake to do the training?

"By the way," Yasumi spoke. "You only have 6 months of this. If you are unable to master my family's talismanic arts… I will have to kill you"

TBC

Sorry, once again cliff hanger. Aren't all chaps cliff hangers? And I think there are typos. (as always) but despite that, R&R!!!

R&R!!! THANKS!!!


	11. Chapter 10

A/N: Hahaha… Late update again. Ahehehe… well anyways. I made like a side fic/ prologue thing, It's called "Leave Me". It's a one-shot, song-fic. And I'd really appreciate it if you read it. Please read and review it! And this too! Hope you enjoy!

Please forgive typos

Disclaimer: Ya… You know this right?

Claimer: I own stuff. Mine.

Warning: OOC stuff, other things that I'm not sure of, made up stuff

Locked

Chapter 10

"What?"

It echoed in his head. Like a bell, a rather happy ringing bell that he just wanted to break and throw away. She touched the wick and it lighted up again and he saw her face, her lips curved in a calm smile. Was this her intention? To get him killed if ever he was of no use? Then she placed the candle back on the floor.

"What I'm about to teach you is far from all laws you know in this world today. If you cannot grasp it quickly… it just means you are unworthy and therefore must perish." He gulped hard at the calm reply. She really does hate him… taking those last words about being sincere back… "But, I'm confident you'll be able to learn it so don't worry." She stood up. "I'll leave you to ponder on that for now, I have things to do. Just call me when you get the answer to my question."

"What question?" He asked. She kept silent and walked up to the door, her shoes tapping lightly. She reached it and opened it letting the hallway light barge in. "You didn't really give me a question to answer… just vague comments about fire…"

She turned back at him, with a calm smile still painted on her features and he just sat back and waited for her reply. "That my friend… is what you may have to find out." With that she disappeared from his sight. Closing the door lightly.

As she walked farther down the hallway, she felt the rapid vibration of her cell phone. She drove her hand inside her pocket and took the silver folded object, as it rang and vibrated. She unfolded it, pressed the button and placed on her ear.

"Hello? Tsujiimoto speaking. Oh, Christopher. How nice of you to call. No, no, I'm fine. Something just got out of hand that's all." She laughed. "No!" She laughed again. "Well, that's great. What? A Cruise? You want me to go? Oh but… well I don't mind much. Auction? Oh that's why… I see… Sure, I'll go. Hai, hai I get the idea. Yes, I love you too." She laughed. "Yes, very much. Bye." With that she pressed another button and whoever she was talking to was gone. She twitched. _I can't believe I had to say that… _

"Not good, huh?"

She heard the very familiar voice and she turned around to see the American. A calm expression plastered on his face. "I saw it in my vision… Since the long sleep ended."

She smirked and Crawford finally reached her and halted in his steps. "Once again… you never warn me about these things…"

"Well, it's all too amusing to miss." He answered coolly. "So, a 5 day long trip… from Tokyo to an unknown island and back to auction off weapons and such. Isn't that illegal? And not only that we have to leave in 2 days…" He tried to mock. He was never really good at it, in that sly tone. But because of that fact it makes it sound all the more degraded.

"We always do illegal things and I don't hear you complain about them. Wait, I don't hear you complain, period." She said with a smile and he grinned back. She was right, Crawford wasn't the obedient puppy who'd follow her everywhere. He just knew what to do and she'd know what to do and since they both knew it was already like following each other's orders. Schuldig whined a few times, but he's still as crafty. "And this is an auction, the morph might be there."

Crawford looked out the window. He sensed he's been sleeping for a long time now and he presumed the reason why there was no noise was because Schuldig had also fallen asleep. He grinned. What would the future hold this time?

llllll

The next two days went by fast. Crawford had gone back to his own place to prepare and so has Yasumi. She instructed Ran to prepare for both himself and Schuldig for a 5 day cruise. Not like he had a choice, sometimes she was too intimidating and he had no other alternative but to follow. He had packed his own bag first, then Schuldig's which was a little harder because he didn't exactly know what he would want to wear.

On the day of the departure, Schu awoke, and as soon as his eyes were open both Ran and Crawford had carried him to the van. And much to the German's surprise, since he just awoke with a yawn, then to be dragged to some heavily tinted vehicle without even a proper explanation. As soon as everyone was inside the van drove off toward the docks.

"IS anybody going to explain to me what's going on?" The German remarked after a long silence. The only woman of the group took another vehicle and another route toward the waterfront, in order to give the illusion that she had no accomplices other than Lupus and Leo.

"We're going to find the missing morph. And in order to do that we have to go to Mr. Winter's cruise and take part in the auction." Crawford replied calmly. He took his spectacle and began to clean it with the edge of his coat. "So we have different identities, once again with the name changing…." He paused. "Schuldig, you'll be known as Lance Vilhem."

"Vilhem…? Seriously? Can't you people think of better names?" He grinned and Crawford gave him a pointed glare.

"Anyway, you're mafia so it doesn't matter. And you're ally and business partner, Ran, who will now be known as Kazuo Onsen. Don't worry about talking to Yasumi. The Onsen are also allied with the Tsujiimoto Empire. Ran is now registered as Onsen's younger son. No flaws. The Onsen sell Tsujiimoto various weapons, we had to make us all linked in order to create the illusion that we're all here for business." He put the monocle back on his eye. He looked at Ran who returned an impassive stare. "I know you don't want to get involved but that very same day Schuldig abducted you, it will obviously lead you here." He paused. "Trouble."

The swordsman gave out a small sigh. "I'm not that bothered." _For Aya-chan's sake… I will kill for her again if it was the only option. Even if I don't want to… _He told himself and averted his gaze out the window. He started thinking about Yasumi's lesson. But then he'd end up thinking about… absolutely nothing and space out. The very idea was some kind black hole that took away other thoughts, it was too weird.

/Problem, kitty?/ He heard the voice of the German in his head. /Wonderful, how I can do this again…/

/Ah… well, not really. Nothing you have to worry about, at least. I'll be fine./ At that remark he received a concerned glare from the German beside him. /I didn't I say not to worry…/

/I know but still… the very reason why you were in you're previously sad state was because of me… and now…/

/I'm all right, Schu./ There was a eerie pause. /And it's not like you to be so worried. I'll be fine, I was just thinking about things and you know…/

/Yes, you think too much…/ Ran looked at him and the German gave him a warm smile. One that he barely sees but it will now be treasured. He liked seeing it. /Be careful, ok?/ The swordsman returned the caring gesture with a half smile.

/Hai./

After a short while the vehicle stopped. They all took their time getting out and the first thing Ran took notice of was the large white boat. Around the area was but of course the clear waters of the sea and on land were the surrounding vehicles and a bunch of VIP's. Followed by the plenty of bodyguards. There were plenty who he noticed were not Japanese. The driver on their vehicle began unloading their bags from the van and a bunch of other finely suited men came and started boarding them inside the ship.

Ran looked up and noticed how clear the sky was with only a few fluffy white clouds that crawled quite fast due to the gentle wind that made his hair and clothes dance along with it. Ahh… The sea. He noticed he barely knows much about it. He can only read it in books and watch it from a TV but he never stopped to visit and speculate it for a few seconds. This made him realize that when he had become an assassin he had missed nearly everything one must enjoy in life.

He shook his head.

Now he's thinking way too much.

Before he could start his march toward the ship he noticed something burning through the back his skull, immediately he paused. He never felt such a sensation before. Like it was real fire burning… burning…

"_Surely, you can see the flame that is suppose to be burning me now has no effect. But what is it that has to surely burn, me or the fire?" She moved her hand upward a centimeter away from its original position and the fire burnt out. And now they were surrounded by darkness._

"_But how certain are we that there was any fire to begin with?"_

The idea came to him with a snap of a finger. She was explaining to him typical feelings, a certain type of skill that can be found in any other person's life. It was simple! Premonition and perception… how these two is related to mental and spiritual prowess, it is by the view of one to understand if it is reality or fiction. In this case everything is nothing and something is everything…. The world of subconscious has no known bounds therefore considered limitless and at the same time unreal because everything has a limit… but the limit is unknown therefore it is infinite. Everything is real. You just have to know what to consider.

He got it!...

Darn he thinks too much…

I wonder if anyone understands…

As he was in the semi-happy phase of finally understanding the complex teachings. He still noticed the burning sensation. He moved his eyes to a side glance trying to make it less a obvious that he was becoming wary. With that he saw a man, lean, tall, and slightly tanned complexion. He had silver hair, with ends dipped in crimson. His eyes kissed with the same color of his hair, red with the mix of platinum. He was off another direction but Ran could feel he was looking at him. He dressed in a white button up shirt and jeans with leather shoes and was off to a less fancy entrance into the boat.

_He works in the boat…_ He told himself. "Kazuo!!! Yo!!!" He finally noticed his other name and quickly forgot about the strange man. He looked at the boat to see the German waving at him, looking impatient. He was probably calling his name for a long time but didn't bother to notice because he wasn't used to hearing it. "Damn it!!! Don't just stare at me because I'm an idiot!!!!... well acting like one…" There was a pause. He noticed how everyone was looking at the German or him, like they were a bunch of loons who broke out from the asylum and they were either too freaked or too scared to go near them. "MOVE!!!" Came a slightly louder but sing song holler.

Ran sighed. Sometimes, that other man needs to be more sensitive to things like these… With that he walked toward the boat.

llllll

And it was fancy. Within the boat were bright chandeliers and red carpeted floors. The paintings on the wall in the main hall were beautiful and there were so many people exploring, who were finely clad in silk and fabric, some even in animal fur and skin. He then remembered he had never been in a boat before, not even in a mission. And never in his life a boat like this… until now of course. He felt something tug on his arm and he looked down.

A little girl, fair skinned around 10 years of age. She had glowing dark blue eyes and silky long blond hair that was kept from her face was a golden hair band. She was wearing a pretty frilly dress. She had a very innocent and confused look on her face, her head tilted to the side as he stared into Aya's amethyst orbs.

"Yasumi-neesan?" She said questionably. Her head still tinted to the side. Ran eyes widened in shock. Why would she think that? And how would he know the young president? "No, you're not her. You look like her!" Ran laughed nervously.

"Yes, I'm not Yasumi. I'm a friend of hers though." _Hell I don't look like her. She's the very spawn of the evil… Who is dying to have my head chopped off if I don't grasp her technique… And where on earth is Schu?_ He moved his gaze to his surroundings. The German wasn't around, weren't they just walking in here just a few minutes ago. He looked back down at the little blond stranger who was still so happy looking. He kneeled down beside her and gazed into her eyes. "I'm sorry to be so rude, not to introduce myself, my name is Kazuo Onsen. Nice to meet you, miss…?"

The girl's smiled brightened even more. "My name is Juliet Veronica A. Valerian Vervain. And I'm very glad to meet you to Kazu-niisan!"

_Fidelity… Sophisticated… Enchantment… _He spoke in his head. Being a florist had its worth, flower language was indeed one tongue worth learning. It was a graceful way of communicating. He gave her a half smile. It was all good… except the fact that he lost Schuldig… Damn German… Wait… Vervain… He thought for a moment. _It sounds so familiar… OH… Hell no… this girl is… _

"The daughter of John Vervain… a man who sells women to all sorts of people. Mr. Onsen." Ran heard a voice behind him. It was seductive and well smoothened with a foreign tone, English tone. The sword master stood up and found the man he saw enter through the other opening. Juliet became even more happy and ran up to the intruder, hugging him and hanging on to the man's shirt. He was a commoner no doubt and very much out of place with his eyes and hair.

"Kazuo-niisan!" The happy blond remarked as he dragged the silver haired man, catching the red head off guard as he flinched back. "This is Aedës. He's my bodyguard!" She said once again in her high pitched happy tone.

The foreigner outstretched his has hand and Ran took it into a handshake, although hesitantly. He got his hand back after the uncanny vibe he was getting as silver plated crimson eyes stared at him with a look he's seen once too many times that it was no longer healthy.

The man was checking him out. He knew all too well he was. The flirt-ish gleam in his eyes, the amusement and excitement. The way he'd make his small gestures, a simple movement, the way he blinked and the fact that he knew his name when they just met. Ran has got another admirer, the joys of being him…

"Kazuo," He heard the sound of a German slang and felt an arm wrap around his shoulders. A taller body pressed not firmly to his side but enough to give a an impression of ownership He looked at his side and found Schuldig and on his face a smirk of amusement and a small hint of annoyance as he stared at the silver highlighted-red haired man. "What's up?" he paused. "Aedës." Came an impassive tone.

"Schuldig." Came a cold tone from the other man. Ran looked at both of them in confusion. They know each other? "Or should I say, Lance."

"Heh. I'm not surprised to see you here… but I suppose it's better we talk some other time."

"I didn't come here to talk to you." Aedës replied with a purr. "I just came here to say hello to something interesting." He eyed Ran possessively and Schuldig gnashed his teeth. He pushed the younger red head back a little behind him protectively.

/He's mine. Back off./

/Oh is he?... well…/ He silvered haired man took Juliet by the hand. "Come now, Julie, we have to see your daddy." He said with a smile which looked fake to both the red heads' eyes. The girl responded with a nod and she looked up at Ran. "Bye, niisan! I hope we see each other later!" She squeaked. And they both started walking another direction.

/I'll just have to get him from you then, Schuldig…/

llllll

"Who the hell was that?"

Ran questioned irritated. They were now in Schuldig's suite, bed and floor covered in fur. The walls were white and the lamp of a slightly yellow color which was the reason why the German had abandoned him in the main lobby. They had both walked there in silence and now since there was nobody around now was the time to interrogate.

"He's a talent. RosenKruez. He was also a scapegoat. And no we don't get along." Schuldig answered, slightly irritated. Ran shrugged at the tone and saw the man sit on the couch by the round window. The boat has already set sail and they were already in motion but there was no sign of Crawford nor Yasumi. "Crap… Why does Brad have to be so lucky to stay clear from him? I bet he didn't even see it in his vision. If he did he would have warned me…"

"What kind of talent does he have?" Ran asked. Taking his seat on the side of the bed. Schuldig looked at him with a serious glare.

"He can make dreams… And he learned a healing art. He can make you go insane in your sleep. Make you end up day dreaming all day and the next thing you know it your dead. He was one of the best. If not, maybe as good as Schwarz."

"He's that dangerous, ah?" Ran asked and the German nodded. The swordsman studied the other man carefully. He looked so vexed and his eyes like they were being drove into a pit of loneliness. The swordsman looked at him. "Schu?" The telepath buried his face in his hands.

No reply.

"Schu?" Ran stood up and went close to him. Trying to comfort the guy. What would that other foreigner had done to get him so upset?

"He stole my stuff!! He's a klepto!"

Silence…

"Eh?"

"My clothes! My shoe! My toothbrush!!! Ran, the man is insane! And he stole my other hat!!!" Schuldig said exasperatedly. And a large sweat drop appeared on Ran's head. He was too weird. "I loathe him…" Ran sighed. Schuldig is Schuldig. And the German grinned. "Aww… Ran was worried about me?"

"Oh, Shut up…" Ran said with a hint of scarlet on his cheeks. And he stood up. Everything is complicated… Before he could get away he felt, the other man grip his wrist tightly. "Schu, I don't want to argue with-.."

Before he could complete his sentence he felt warm lips pressed on to his own. His eyes widened in shock at first then he closed his eyes to hold on to the moment.

Ran tasted exotic. Like wine. It was delicious, finely made from the best of products. Taken time to become so rare and tasty. Most of all, he was addicting, dangerously addicting. It was almost as horrible as it was fantastic to savor. Bathing in what is both holy and evil. That's probably the definition of addiction. The German pulled away from the kiss and gazed into Ran's purple eyes. They looked at him with a hint of confusion and yet something deeper he couldn't quite grasp. He moved closer to Ran and whispered into his ear, "Let me take you away from here, Ran… Let me make you mine…And I too will belong to you…"

The other red head couldn't answer. He didn't know what to say or do. But he loved the situation he was in now. But he didn't understand why he'd feel that way… fear? "I don't know… I can't…" He said hesitantly. "I never…"

"Don't worry. I'll teach you." Came the seductive whisper. Then he felt the foreigner's mouth on his again. As he was pushed and they both fell on top of the fur covered bed, there was nothing to be worried about now. Everything would be sealed in that room, everything would be locked.

TBC

Hah… there. A cliffie coz I lab you all. Hehehe. Keeping it PG-13, by the way. Lemons and limes are pretty hard for me to do. (which is not a bad thing…) Although, I don't mean the cliffie… but yes, it's a lot better that way. I guess. Don't kill me…

Comments, Suggestions, other stuff… VERY welcome

Please R&R


	12. Chapter 11

A/N: Hey people! Thanks for all your reviews. This fanfic would obviously be rotting somewhere without all your constant support. The more reviews I get, the less likely I'd get one of those evil writer's blocks. (the devil's comrade. I guarantee that fact…) So please send me some love! It's December! –grin- Alright then, enough with my babble, on to business.

Please forgive my typos

Disclaimer: Weiss Kruez is not mine. I'm just writing for my sick muse and to share my fantasies with other people…

Claimer: Original production out ofmy own muse. (although the name SEAL is sorta borrowed. I too don't own that mind.) Please don't take away the happiness without my permission and approval.

Warnings**: Correct me if I'm wrong but some thoughts and words here may get as high as PG-15, tops. But I'm not 100 percentsure. I doubt R would pop up.** And the usual OOC-ness. And maybe other things

Locked

Chapter 11

It was dark once again. Under a night filled with stars, as it glowed and reflected on the restless waters. The boat was moving in a moderately quick pace. You can feel the little sprinkling of the water as it hit the side of the ship and made that splashing noise. It was almost December and it was freezing cold outside especially near the water.

She looked out at sea, leaning on the edges of the ship. She got to the ship and was able to evade Winters. It was going well… for now. Time passed and she started listening to the voices in her head, a scene that was still so clear up until now but then happened so long ago. She let the tears swell in her eyes but didn't bother to wipe it away.

"I hope he won't be too hard on himself." Yasumi told herself in a soft whisper. She grabbed the hair in the back of her head. And continued to think in her own solitude.

llllll

Slowly he opened his eyes to realize that it was getting cold. Beautiful violet eyes scanned the room, he sat up and found him self wrapped in sheets and fur comforters. The lamp was on but he noticed that he was the only one in the room and he frowned at the realization. He looked down at the edge of the bed to find his discarded clothes.

He really did it. Yep. He lost his virginity… to a man.

He turned red at the thought. It's not like it was bad… It felt nice… With the kisses, caressing and the-

Ok, enough… Bad…

But still…

He sighed as he felt the smile form on his face and he laid back down on the comfort of the cushions and sheets. He felt so brand new… Shiny… or something. He couldn't explain it… (A/N: Neither can I…) But it felt so right. Pleasure. That was a cleaner word for it. Mind blowing Pleasure. It blew up plenty of times while they were…

Ok, enough… Mind must stop turning. Bad thoughts…

With that he turned to the table with a lamp on it, he saw a note and on top of it a souvenir pen. Reacting quickly, he moved and picked up the note and read it aloud softly. "Hello Aya," He began with an eyebrow arched in amusement. "Sorry to leave you alone right after that. Braddy is such an arse." Arse... Ah, ass. "We have to meet in the casino, dress up nice, ok? Formal or Semi-formal is fine. Love, Schu." He looked at the bottom of the note. "P.S. Thanks for preparing my clothes. You got the good ones, hehe. You tasted wonderful, not bad for the first time. (insert wink). I love you!"

Silence…

Did he have to leave the PS? He got reminded again and his mind was filled with dirty thoughts. At least he didn't stink at his first go... Ok! That's it. He stood up, still wrapped up in his bed sheet. He's going to take a warm shower and wash the… stuff off him. Damn his whacked up brain for being so caught up in imaginations such as those.

llllll

After a long search of something good to wear out of the bags which he had forgotten which goes where… came to a conclusion. He wore a dark blue suit over a black shirt, his pants matching his suit. The usual dark colors brought the color of his eyes. Since when did he start caring about that? Has he gotten more conscious about his appearance?... He paused. Ok…

He then he got the towel and dried his hair a little and ran his hand through it once. And what do you know, his hair is fixed! He threw the towel on to the bed. Straightened out his outfit and left the room with a card key in hand.

As he walked, he found his way into the main hall and looked at the board near the staircase for directions. He made his way to the other side and found himself near an indoor swimming pool and across it the casino. And casually after an intake of air, he walked in.

Time to look for someone he knew before he gets molested or seduced. More or less stared at… he gets that a lot.

The place was mostly shiningly gold in appearance, the red thin carpet below his feet made it easy for him to walk. There were exotic dancers here and there dressed scantily and walking around trying to get themselves a full pocket with ugly fat tyrants. Gambling, money, smoke, alcohol… Not exactly his place. But he could live. Money was good. Money is always good. Just not the naked people and the rich jerks, they should be burned.

He looked at his side. Black jack. The dealer was in a winning streak… The other competitors can eat crap. In other words… they sucked like hell.

_I was Weiss… Aya, you're suppose to be against these things… _He paused. _Oh piss off. I can gamble, I'm not killing anyone. I'm just making a third world country… Sadder. _He paused again. _Ok, just to kick ass Aya, you're here to kick... Ass._ He walked up to the table. "I'll join. Hit me." He took a seat and the rest of the onlookers looked at him for a brief moment and then went back to the game. They placed their bets.

(A/N: I know the rules, but I'll change things here and there.)

The dealer distributed the cards. They were 5, so it's from right to left. One guy, another guy, Aya, other guy, dealer. And some people and hookers supporting who they wanted to support. That's the system. The 2 cards in front of the dealer, on up, which was a 6 of hearts and another which was faced down with blue decors. Aya looked at his hand… Lucky him... "Black Jack." He announced before another player could say anything. He placed his cards down revealing a jack of spades and an ace of spades. Oh lucky him…

He watched him from the bar, in between were tables of roulette, and other gambling games. Waitresses dressed scantily would pass by with a tray in hand and drinks. Rich men and women everywhere, he was surrounded by power and money.

"Hey boy, would you want anything else?" The woman in the other side of the bar asked, trying her best to seduce him with her well-exposed curves and tone of voice. "A drink perhaps?" He sighed to himself. If he said yes, she'd probably end up drugging him and taking him somewhere to perform "service". He stayed silent. "Oh, you shy boy… Hm. That's what makes you so adorable I suppose…"

"Nagi." He heard Persia's voice and turned to see the man himself with a bright beam. The girl glared at the intruder and went back to her post. Muttering something along the lines, 'why are all the cute ones gay…' Persia sat beside him, ignoring the previous remark he heard from the lady bartender who took in a different victim on the other side, in his view he saw his old teammate on a very desirable winning streak. He sighed.

"What now Persia?" Nagi asked before his boss could get too buried in his self.

"We'll begin with the mission when we get to the island tonight. We have to see how dangerous this Christopher Winters is." He said seriously and looked at Ran again, he seems to be winning a lot of cash as he saw hookers holding him, which he ignored and continued kicking the now very irritated dealer's ass. All the other guys have left, they now knew they didn't have a chance. Then he looked at Nagi, who was looking at another game not far from them. He seemed to be engrossed in the game of roulette as the ball spun and landed on a color and number. He smiled. "Hey Nagi."

The younger boy looked at the other man. Half curious and the other part looking serious. "Nagi, do you want to gamble?"

llllll

He watched everything from above, he was in the balcony which only himself and his companion he was to meet up the balcony can activate. Being a fake Mafia was fun. His left hand was holding on to the gold colored fence and the other hand in his pocket. He had a maroon nearly-black hat crowned on his head, with a dark blue ribbon around it. His orange red hair tied up neat in a ponytail. He was wearing a red button up shirt under an open suit of the same color of his hat; he also wore pants and leather shoes to complete the wardrobe. With a gold band on his neck to match, his two top buttons on his under shirt was unbuttoned.

He sighed as he watched his kitten win and have a lot of other half naked women crowd around him like ants to a fine meal of sugar. He sighed. He's hot and getting rich… who wouldn't want his Ran-ran?

"Mr. Vilhem." He heard an American accent of a middle-aged man behind him, fluent and well-spoken English. He looked back and saw a blonde man. Well-built, gorgeous, fair complexion, he was wearing a gold bracelet in his left wrist and a watch. He was clad in a plain neat black suit, simple but dressed richly in the best of fabrics. He had sparkling blue green eyes that said more than it should. He didn't need telepathy to read his glare.

He looked angry and Schuldig could sense that anger directed right at him. _Somebody's got a stick up their ass… A very thick stick… he doesn't have to look so… FAT just coz Yasumi didn't show up for dinner. Hehehe. Yeah, she hates your guts and you just don't want to accept it. Hahaha… _"Good evening, Mr. Winters." Despite Schuldig mental conversation with his own muse he came up with an answer dipped in a German tone no doubt but also he is a master in the English language. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes," the American said nearing him. He stopped close enough for the telepath to take in his scent. A rich cologne but not as strong, it had a sensuous feel to Schuldig's surprise. "It's about that American comrade of yours, what's his name? I can't seem to recall…"

"Brad. Brad Crawford." Schuldig said with a grin. He knew the question before hand of course. But waiting and being polite never hurt anyone. Obviously, this guy has seen the young raven headed president with Crawford more than enough times. What an annoying guy, doesn't trust his own wife-to-be.

"Ah, of the Crawford industry. Big money that company." The American remarked a little calmer. "Is he…?"

"With Miss Yasumi? No, they're business partners really." Schuldig remarked getting impatient due to his companion's formalities that took too much time. "I assure you. There is nothing between them." He said and he eyed down the balcony again. He felt in control… wait, he is in control. Then he looked at Ran, gathering more money by the minute. Lady luck seems to have found Ran hot too. He smiled at the thought, he also saw Nagi and Persia… gambling? And actually winning?

_Waw… never knew that goody-goody of a boss would be into gambling._ He was proud of the munchkins. They're so cute together, they can hide it all they wanted but it's obvious they like each other. He could smell their thoughts, Nagi's mental shields are not as good as Crawford's and so much more easier to pry into him. Especially Mamoru's… vulnerable children. Which brings us to the question, why would Nagi work for him when they escaped the hands of a evil industry? He likes him. And Schuldig couldn't some up with a better theory.

And then he recognized a presence, quickly he looked around the people surrounding his kitty. To make sure he's safe but… _Aedës… _he hissed in his mind as he eyed the pretty boy walking in casually like he was some rich person. He saw him walk closer and closer to Ran. He narrowed his eyes, gaze locking on to the kleptomaniac. Those years of missing objects. Farfie hated him too, he stole his knives. Although the man had said it hurts God… it hurt Farfarello, no irritated him. And hurti-I mean irritating Farfarello means making the Redeemer happy… It just wasn't acceptable. (to his Jei's standards at least) He also stole Nagi's favorite plushy, it was a very cute bear! And he took it for his own evil. And… he stole Crawford's… wait he didn't steal from Crawford.

But the man who loathed him the most was Schuldig. They were always competing. In nearly everything, power, friends, better sex-lives and more. They were rivals…

Schuldig grinned evilly. If he wanted his kitten that badly, he better be making his own damn dream of it. With that the German walked passed Christopher, heading for the doorway. "Well, we're near the island. I better be on my way. The auction will be soon, won't it?" Without waiting for a reply, he left. Closing the door softly.

llllll

_Maybe at some point I hated you… For being allowed to do everything you wanted without making sure you won't feel another person's pain in return. I went to that school that day, the one I left you in. But that gives you no excuse to run off without telling me._

_I walk. Walk in those hallway calmly while people stare at me. Thinking of me as a criminal. Not like they're wrong. But they're not right either. My trench coat following my movement. I just came from a mission and took a shower but I can still smell the blood on me. I guess it's no use, I am evil after all_

_I finally reached that room and slam the doors open. The principal's secretary stares at me and I ignore her and walk on, she tells me to halt, standing, feeling the fear of my very presence. But she doesn't know who she's talking to… she doesn't know who she's trying to stop. I stand in front of the actual office and I once again slam the doors open and peer at the half confused faces and I glare back._

_The principal looking like an ass as usual. Sitting on his chair by the desk, on the sofas I see the director… what the hell is he doing here? And my stepmother and I wonder the same question, again, what she's doing here. I would've killed her by now if dad actually allows me too. But he told me not to… damn him and his kindness. And two other people in the room, foreign no doubt. One mature, dominant air surrounding him, calm, intelligent and unafraid. The other, red head, confident wait, no, cocky but no doubt clever._

_If my intelligence served me well… they were the new teachers who moved here about 2 months ago. And then I look at my brother, his nervous look directed at me and he scratched the back of his head and worriedly laughed._

"_I'm in deep shit aren't I sister?..." He asked and laughed nervously once more._

"_Damn straight." I respond, walking deeper into the room. I let the secretary close the door behind me. Before the principal could say a word and move his hand for me to take a seat I hold up my hand for him to stay silent. "I have no time for formal introductions. They're boring and stupid and, no, mother I will not clean up my language." I say knowing what will happen next. Everyone was readable in this room…_

_except these two. Who are they? Foreign or not… they're suspicious. My thoughts trail to another report I received a few days ago. Schwarz… Something about a group called Schwarz. These people… I'm not sure but it's very possible._

"_I am Yasumi Matsuka .Twin Sister of Kogoyoshi." I say plainly._

"_Crad. John Crad. Guidance councilor" The taller foreigner responded. American tone. "This is my friend and colleague, Mr. Vilhem. As you said formalities are useless."_

"_Yo." The red head said with a mock salute. Accent… obviously German._

"_Now we all know each other." I paused. "What in all of hell happened?"_

"_Yasumi, I'm sure you know well. Your idiot of a brother ran off in the middle of the night, without my permission and went with this…"Her stepmother paused. Standing up, looking at the younger looking teacher carefully. Her face holding a vexed expression. She was wearing a dress. A exposing one for a 40-year-old no doubt. "This sick foreign bastard who I saw with your now very GAY brother! It's outrageous right out in the gate of a public place!!" She complained and the other red head blinked. I blinked._

"_Say what?" I asked. Surprised I looked at my brother who turned the other way on cue. Ahh… I get it. I just don't believe it. "And?" I asked looking at my mother who flinched but went back to rant about it again._

"_What do you mean AND??!" She yelled._

"_Miss Yasumi, you're a graduate here am I correct?" The director asked and I nodded. "You're top class too. And I think you'd know the rules about this. Your brother just broke 15 rules out there with grave consequences. He might be-"_

"_Expelled?" I interrupted and he nodded. Expelled, huh? Expel Kogo? My perfect brother? Hah, they wouldn't dare._

"_Not only that… he's-"_

"_Gay?" I cut in once more but this time it was the principal who spoke. And he too nodded. I looked at my twin but this time he was looking at the floor, nervous are we brother? He had his hands laced together. He likes him… I looked at the German and stared back with a small grin in his face. I smirk._

"_Very well. Expel him." I say after a long silence and I got everyone gazing at me. "Go on, I dare you. But you guys wouldn't. Kogoyoshi is one of the best. No, he is the best you had and will ever have. You wouldn't dare let a prized pupil go… You just want to punish him because you think he'd be a good boy toy… am I right?" I tell them calmly and I could sensed the lump in the principal's throat being swallowed slowly and the director angrily stood up and with quick strides he brought his hand up, prepared to slap me. But I'm way too quick. I caught it with ease. _

"_Hm. Silence says it all." I say and push his hand aside. "Sure he left the house without permission but he's old enough. He's not 9. He's only human, gay or whatever. He could go –uck a whore and I wouldn't give a damn. He could –uck a post and nobody would give a damn. Kiss a guy. Shesh. I've seen worst but you see them in the streets unpunished. So he's teacher, so what? He's human. It's legal." I paused. "Anything else I should know?"_

"_I smoked pot." Kogoyoshi said and I looked at him wide eyed. He heard a small cough from where the two teachers were._

"_You smoked- WHAT?!" I ask him and he didn't respond. Now he's done it. I walked up to him and he looked up at me and gazed at my violet eyes and I stared at his. With a swift movement, I pinched his ear and pulled it up. And he yelled in pain begging me to let go. But I won't… he losing his virginity is ok. Alcohol is ok. But drugs?... He tried drugs behind my back? Ok, yes, he's in very serious shit. I pulled him up for him to stand and he followed very much in pain. "You are so going to get it… let's go, Kogo." I said pulling him._

"_Ow, ow, ow…" he only responded but followed. "Can't you take it easy, sis?..."_

"_After drugs. NO." I say, making my way to the foreigner. He stared at me. And I stared back. Cocky. Cockiness… both he and my brother. Both of them… they were irritatingly… COCKY. With that, I pinched the foreigner's ear, harder than Kogo's and he screamed unable to break free. "You're the Arse who got my bro into doing some puffs of weed… aren't you?"_

"_Ow, ow, ow… Ok lady don't- OW!!!" I tightened my grip. These two are going to pay. One way or another. "Crad… help please…?" he squeaked, in pain and the American looked at him and then at me. I glared at him and he smirked. He's enjoying this. He's amused and I can tell. _

"_Now… for a day or so… I'm not LADY or WOMAN. Or some informal nickname or insult." I directed at Vilhem seriously. "I am either Mistress or Miss. Nothing more or less. That goes for you, Kogo." I said to the other one I had in my grasp they both nodded in pain. "I warn you I'm far worse than jail. You WILL suffer." I exclaimed and walked toward the door and kicked it broken in mad rage and I heard the secretary scream and all the people in the room cower except the gaijin. The two men gulped as they walked on. And I ignore the shrill cries of my step mother to return to the office_

She laughed at the remembrance. It was so fun to boss them around. 2 weeks and they were her slaves, she had taken them to the mansion. With that time she took out traces of the happenings, rumors, any thing that will expose them… they were all taken care of. She had the two as maids, scrubbing the mansion, all 15 rooms, 19 bathrooms, 2 kitchens, living room and all everyday kept clean and tidy. Arrange her library by the alphabetical order, all 300 books and scrolls. Cook everyday, do the laundry, garden, all the house chores. Shopping for supplies. Nearly everything a maid would do. They did it. Alone two of them. She had the household in a break during that time.

"That was a good memory to put out…" She said, still looking at the water. "Thank you for showing it to me. I nearly forgot all about it."

He appeared, as if a shadow. But his silver hair and red highlights gave away his identity. Dressed casually as usual. "It was my pleasure to see it was to your liking." Yasumi looked back. Her face made him shrug and a shiver was sent down his spine. After a while he regained his composure. "But I'm surprised you even allowed me to-"

"It's going to rain." She interrupted and looked back at sea. He blinked. She was… eccentric. Very eccentric. But what would he suspect from a talismanic master? He knew they took in different jobs. They were creepy… most of them were at least.

Then, as if on cue… there was a shower of water from the dark night sky. And both of them were drenched. What was weird was there was no lightning or thunder. Just… water. "You were planning to knock me unconscious, were you not?" Yasumi said calmly and suddenly it stopped raining. "You wanted me to sleep happy… and then steal my necklace, yes?"

Silence…

"You're good…"

She laughed. "I know I am." She stopped for awhile. "Better get out of here. There's something interesting… in the casino. I'm sure you'll be more entertained in there." She glanced back at him and walked a little closer, she held out her hand and he blinked at what was on her hand. A revolver. A handy one. He took it from her, getting the picture. "Give this to Kazuo for me. I don't feel like going yet." With that he turned back, not seeing the rather dead look on the younger woman's face.

llllll

_Where the hell did he go? _

Schuldig thought looking around. There was no sign of Aedës. He walked on a little closer to Ran's table and then studied the vicinity again. He vanished. The whacko thief disappeared. _Damn… he's actually getting better at this stealth thing than I thought. Either that or I'm so damn paranoid. _He grinned at the thought. _Nah… that can't be._

"Schuldig?"

He heard a voice he was far too accustomed with to forget. He turned back with his trademark grin still in place. He saw the sharp violet eye stare into his green orbs with happiness. "Where were you?"

"Oh, just busy." Schuldig answered indifferent in demeanor. He saw a sack that Ran had been carrying in his hand. He smiled. "So you good guys do gamble…"

The younger red head grinned. "Maybe. The dealer just sucked. Couldn't miss the chance to get the money. But I think I had enough…" He paused. "And by any chance, is this yours?" With that Ran held up a revolver in hand that he had fished easily out of his suit pocket. "I don't know who dropped it but it doesn't seem local."

"Let me see." The German held out hid hand and the sword master give it instantly. He wondered how it got passed the security. It is metal and it would have been detected. He studied it. It was different in color, it didn't show his reflection either. It was nearly… "Custom made… this is… pretty heavy actually for a revolver… this material isn't metal, nothing here is metal. If I'm not mistaken it's… white gold…?" He blinked at the realization. "Expensive. What kind of loon would leave it here?..." he handed it back to Ran who stared at it, mesmerized. "Might as well keep it. As a lucky charm or something."

"Good evening, all honorable guests. I officially welcome you this cruise." A woman's voice spoke in the speakers. Both red heads looked at the speakers, paying close attention to the words that will follow. "I am the co-captain of this ship, Lila. We will soon be arriving to our destination. May I remind you not to unpack or bring down any luggage. The reason will be explained once we get there. The time check is now 11:48 pm. Estimation of arrival is at 12 midnight. The breakfast will be out at 6 a.m. the following day and the auction will start at 7:30 a.m. I will update you again once we are 5 minutes away from the island. Thank you and good evening." 

After awhile everyone resumed doing what they were doing before the voice in the speaker interrupted. Schuldig looked at Ran, who was still steadily gazing at the gold colored speakers. The gun had already been hidden as everyone would take a glance here and there and holding a gun wasn't going to make them go unnoticed. He grinned. "Now Ran, why don't we go get something to eat." He said putting his arm around Ran's shoulders making the younger man flush slightly. "You can't still be shy, ne?… Right after that…" He whispered. "And then before we get some sleep why don't we-ACK!" Before he could finish whatever dirty words he wanted to say to completes that sentence he was roughly jabbed in the gut by the younger red head's mighty elbow. Next thing he knew it he was on the ground with, to his exaggerated thoughts, a "bruised rib". Hugging his gut painfully, he watched the younger man walk away slowly.

"Don't push your luck." Were the last words the man said as he walked toward the dining hall. The German got up slowly, with a huge grin on his face. Not minding the stares he received from various passersby. So Ran wants to play hard to get again? So he didn't break into him all way through. Heh, that will fade away after a while. He knows Aya of Weiss, the inner beast of his sweet Ran was someone who's mastered the art of assassination well. But that means learning a much more skin-on-skin art wouldn't be so hard to learn….

He'll never be bored again.

TBC…

Ran's having to many lectures, I've noticed. Hehehe. I hope you liked this chap. Oh and by the way, although this is late…

**HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!!!**

Hehehe. Alright then, for my Christmas present you will keep giving me those lovely reviews. And I'll keep feeding you my chapters. So all is fair. Let's keep giving. Later!

R&R


	13. Chapter 12

A/N: Ugh, late update… waaaaaaaaa…. Weird chapter too. But I hope it's okay. I hope… There are flashback sequences too and they're taken at two different times. On AFTER the epi in Gluhen where Schwarz shows up. (the building and blah, Epitaph place) and the other one is well… that will spoil you. But I'll reveal it sooner or later.

Disclaimer: … you know the drill…

Please forgive typos

Warnings: This chapter is just plain weird and screwed.

Locked

Chapter 12

They've finally arrived on the island and everyone was gathered on the solitary building in the whole territory and it's now the time of the auction as all the tyrants and the mafia bosses gathered together like one family. (a family that have no fear of killing each other if ever provoked) Right now they're just waiting for the man behind this all to go on that stage and start business. And everyone was dressed to impress but Schuldig didn't care to change.

Who the hell needs to when you're hot with or without clothes?

He smirked at his thought. Maybe he's being too cocky… nah, he's just modest enough to state the truth.

He turned his head slightly, his hands in his pockets. Ahh… so he attracted the young daughter of a drug dealer and her lady friends from where they were he can see the gleam of lust in their eyes, mind reading for a moment didn't seem so useful. What age would you say was young? 18? He sighed silently. So young and already involved in this kind of crap… how pitiful. He could blend easily in such a crowd… filled with rich foreigners and Japanese people but where ever he fit in… he didn't find so entertaining.

Surely, when he walked around the Tokyo streets anyone could spot him from miles away. He was foreign and the people didn't want him around. But here it was as if he was surrounded by people of his own blood. He didn't want to see the same thing all time and everyday but of course there were exceptions.

Being around the same thing was uninteresting and orthodox and too much of that can kill him. Besides, the thoughts of irritation were one his favorite flavors. So what if he isn't Japanese? He's better than most of them at any rate.

Cutting, for a moment, his inner monologue he took a side glance at his partner who was socializing with the much older men of the dark areas. He narrowed his gaze at one of them, who had a champagne glass in one hand and clad richly in a tux. So he wanted Ran as a future business partner… and if he was lucky a young fuc- toy… And the woman beside HIS Ran… ahh.. the slut with huge breasts and seemed to like holding people and leaning on people and tonight she had picked the young swordsman as a ticket for more cash and a good place to stay.

_Dream on…_ He thought. A waiter passed by in front of him with a tray of martini glasses and he got one swiftly, took in a little of its scent and a small sip. Ahh… Alcohol… The only thing that can comfort him now, he can't get too close to Ran in this kind of place, they both have to look like they're here for business and not to screw around. Something like 'no public affection'.

Or so Crawford had told him. Why did they have to listen to him? Oh yeah… they were in a mission… he always seemed to forget…

Crawford is mean.

And old… don't forget old.

Ugh… big-breast-lady is really pushing it…

He took another sip. If he didn't take any alcohol he'll start burning and get into some narcissistic rage and start killing everyone near Ran. He's jealous… envious of everyone who can be near him. He's obsessed… but you have to obsessed with something yes? No one can live without the blaze of an obsession…

/Speaking of a blaze…/ The German said through a telepathic line to the one who entered through the doorway. He could sense her easily but can't read her thoughts. He turned his head to look at her. /Someone is looking nice…/

Yasumi, dressed in a black backless gown with beading. It had two slits on both sides exposing a large portion of her legs, the cross pendant now connected to a wrist band that she wore. There were eyes filled with interest following her like a dinner being served to the dining table. /Eat it, German./

/Ouch./ He responded mock hurt. He watched her fade away into the crowd with a smug smile on her face. She's being fed to the lions and she doesn't give a crap that she may never come back. Of course… that was just an exaggeration of how vicious the people here are. Yasumi can handle herself, lions or dragons or insanely cute animals, one or all or none at all and can ravage you into nothing… she can handle it.

Or so she LOOKS like she can handle it. You can never really tell with people like her…

Famous or people who want to keep a good image always, anywhere and everywhere they just had to wag their feathers and baam you have the next multi-millionaire. Sad part… you got your money through selling drugs. Good part, they don't know that. Yasu didn't sell drugs… but she was evil to the core and that was his point.

And Schuldig… is he evil? Nope, he's… (since old words are still very much breathing) misunderstood. But… that was the excuse of the insane, the ones in denial, the guilty.

He's spending too much time alone, his thoughts are beyond his usual… sooner or later he'll think too much and come up with complicated philosophies like what Ran's mind has been lately filled with. The thought scared him. _Ugh… reminds me of history lessons. Yuck… _(Yeah, he promised not to read Ran's mind, but can he help it? He's only human.)

Finally after a while he finished his beverage, he gave a longing glance at Ran before he walked off toward a different direction. The buffet looked like something he might take his anger on.

lllllll

He watched him leave through the other direction. He really wanted to be closer but what can he do? Crawford seemed dead serious, possibly and public affection can jeopardize their purpose. It's always for the mission… all his life. Everything is a mission.

But with Schuldig it wasn't… he wasn't pressured and he was not bound by anything and no one can see what's wrong because it's just the both of them.

But now he's surrounded by these people, who smelled of lust and cigarettes and some intoxicatingly expensive and rich perfume and dressed too richly for comfort. He felt out of place but he had been doing well in hiding that truth.

"We will now begin our main event." The woman dressed in white up that stage spoke brightly and everyone looked at her and the man beside her on a stand and a wooden hammer to be used for the event. Everything then quieted down and it seemed colder than it was earlier. And everyone else around me seemed to swim away and I was left alone… finally.

/Schuldig, Ran… let's go./ Crawford's voice sounded in his head, seems that Schuldig had connected him to their psychic link. He looked around for both men and saw them silently moving closer to stage, where the auction was already taking place and a few items were in the verge of being sold.

"We'll start the bid at 1 million! Who says 1.2?!"

"1.4m!"

"1.4m to the gentleman with a green suit! Who says 1.6?!"

"Me! 1.6m!!"

/Hey, Schu…/ Ran's voice interrupted suddenly causing Schuldig to shrug but he continued walking silently. /I have… a bad feeling about this./

/Nah. Don't worry Ran… everything will be-/

/3… 2…1./ Crawford counted backwards and then a sound of a piercing scream resounded in the air, causing time to stop abruptly and all the good air to be taken in one gasp.

llllll

_He yawned unintentionally, I can tell by the way he turned away and hoped I wouldn't notice. We've been waiting here a little longer than intended but does that really matter? Either way we came for the same purpose._

_Death._

_I peered at the building and took a side glance at my brother, seeing the drowsiness in his eyes I wonder in my own thoughts. "Crimson… what's the matter?"_

_He looked at me, trying to hold a smile up so he'd look innocent. But he isn't and none of us were. "Nothing Desert… I was just thinking…" He looks away._

_He misses him… I can tell. We haven't seen them in months and they left without warning and without a trace. But it's no good for me to wonder on. I've never really been open minded too much and when I accepted my brother's relationship with him I knew something would break it off and I know my brother knows just as well. So why does he bother?... Why? What good will it do?_

_After Schuldig left he had dyed hair black but mine was kept Crimson. Why? Why is he so bitter still? Why? _

"_Desert."_

_I snap out of my thoughts at the sound of my name. I look at my other companion, Lupus, impassive and emotionless. "Let's go."_

_And I make myself obliged to his command. _

llllll

And there were more piercing screams coming from outside the closed doors. People began to panic nearing the stage and keeping away from the doors, trying to pass the stage where the auction had halted Ran stayed still though, by his side was Schuldig who stayed cautiously by his side.

_What withers dies_

_No truth, no lies_

_In this place where darkness creeps_

_Please just let me sleep_

He didn't know why he didn't move or react or scream or fret or in anyway panic, all he could do was stand and stare at how everyone just somehow ended up laying breathlessly on their own pools of blood. Why he couldn't move he couldn't grasp and why Schuldig didn't move or tell him to move he couldn't grasp either.

What the hell… is happening?

The only thing in his head was the fact that…

he had this incredulous desire

…to sleep and fall into the land of dreams.

**And he awoke.**

_What the hell? _He asked himself that same question, now regaining the liberty to move but now really couldn't due to the fact that he was tied down to a pillar. He looked around silently, noticing the other people who have been tied down and who were all unconscious.

/Thank God you're actually awake…/ He heard the voice of the German in his head.

/Schu…?/ he spoke back in the telepathic line, he searched his radius more urgently. /Where the hell are you? And why is everyone tied up?/

/I'm right behind you, in the other end of this gods forsaken pillar with this strange wire like thing that NOTE: I strangely cannot break…/ Ran looked down taking note of at the source of the other man's irritation, how the black thick ropes seemed eerie and he looked around too see everyone is else tied down by the same material. /I don't freaking no why I'm tied or why anyone is, I was SOMEHOW, ME, was ACTUALLY rendered UNCONSCIOUS./

/Schu… did you get drunk?/ Aya cut in but to have his remark go unnoticed.

/And I have no idea where Crawford, who is, once again, NOTE: is ignoring me and Yasumi freaking disappeared and I feel so freaking drunk and freaking pissed and freaking tired and… other freaking things that I cannot freaking put into freaking words!!!/ He complained nearly violent enough to give Ran a headache. /And you, YES YOU RAN don't you dare try to ignore me!/ He said demandingly when he heard Ran mentally sigh and then felt him jolt back to life with the telepath's command. /…Do know how lame a freaking curse word 'freaking' freaking is?!... It's like-/

/We have to get out of here./ Aya cut in monotone and irritated. Mental ranting is so much worse than the actual hearable ones. He looked around again. /And there are no guards or whatever around here… is the work or terrorists?/

/Ran, love, as important you are to me…/ He paused. /and as important it is to get the hell out of this place… I would greatly appreciate it if you kept quiet and allow me vent my almost secret feelings for you and for the ones around you, who I noticed love you SO MUCH…/ He said with a hint of sarcasm on the part where he spoke of the strangers that were around Ran.

/Schu, dear, as MUCH as you really are ANNOYING me right now… I am willing to forgive you if you keep quiet and help me find a way to get out of here and leave this shit hole…/ He said exaggerating a few words, his head hurt and he was still feeling groggy after all that had happened and he wanted to go lie down and sleep till he can't sleep anymore.

/Fine! Be that way…/ He said and added a 'sniff' for the 'sad' effect. /Just freaking promise that after all this is over…/ There was an intense pause.

/What?/ Ran said impatiently.

/That…/ He paused again. /That I am allowed to screw you senseless and we can call it all even!/

_Ugh, what the hell. As long as he shuts up… _/Fine…/ He said dryly and got some strange giddy yelp from the German as a reply. _He's drunk he'll probably forget anyway… _He spoke again to himself. He had enjoyed their love making. No doubt but then he was you know…

Not feeling ready again?

_Ugh… Not now… think about later it, Ran… later when you're not some hostage… _With that he tried again to struggle away from his ties but it was as expected, completely futile. /Schu, what the hell do we do?.../

/…Wait…/ And in a few moments the bonds were loose and on the ground on top of his feet. /There! All finished!/ With that remark he can feel the grin spread like mayo on Schuldig's lips.

/…I thought you said you couldn't FREAKING UNTIE US!!/ Ran screamed and maybe even echoed at the vastness of his own now empty mind.

/Well you know… Yeah…/

/DID YOU JUST TRICK ME INTO… UGH!/ He screamed mentally and almost thought he nearly said it aloud for everyone to hear. And once again easily lured into the German's net of evil immoral schemes and then he took a deep breath. And then he exhaled that bundle of bad air, he needed to calm down. The man is drunk… He will forget… He will not take a promise against him… because he will forget… /Let's go…/ _Think happy thoughts…_

/Aww, Ran you're so cute all vulnerable./ Schuldig answered taking small strides toward the door. /Let's go, Crawford is waiting for us in the boat./

Another lie…

Somehow… he didn't think he was drunk period… he will remember.

llllll

_And nothing else mattered… No one else matters._

_I stared at him and he stared back. His green eyes locked into mine and couldn't help but smirk. He's angry and I am the source of that anger. He is bitter and I am the source of that bitterness. He is Guilty and I am the source of that Guiltiness. Reality couldn't change that in any other way. Nobody can. Nobody will. _

_There was a thick mist surrounding us like a choking blanket, unable to see anything but each other, unable to think of anything else but it each other._

"_It was you wasn't it?" He asked, his voice has lost its annoying playful tone that it usually bore. "You were the one who made me this way."_

"_Was I? Aren't you a lot older than me?" I responded calmly._

"_You got me into trouble in the first place. You had them find me, how old were you? 13?" He answered his voice is shaking; he is finding it hard to talk without bursting his anger at me. He knows that if he does he will lose. He knows that I am stronger than him and he will lose. "Why did you do it?"_

"_I began killing people when I was 10. Kogo started when he was 13." I averted away from his questions. I don't need to answer, not now anyway. "Because I was better at it than he was. And you were at the wrong place at the wrong time, Lance. Or must I use the name Schuldig?"_

_He nearly laughed, but it was dark and so was the grin forming on his lips. "You got me into that hell, Rosenkreuz… You were the one who killed my father."_

_It was my turn to laugh. "You sound like you have a grudge, but really you don't. Not on me anyway." He snorted and I smiled back. "That's why you named yourself, Schuldig. Because you know you are the marked and I, I'm simply one who wants to follow you and you wouldn't be alive today if you didn't get into Rosenkreuz." I paused. "You wouldn't have met Kogo. You wouldn't have met Schwarz, either. And both of us wouldn't have this lovely reunion surrounded by a cloak of white that defies us both."_

_Silence screamed._

"_We're very the same… Aren't we, Yasumi?" he spoke almost as it relieved him of his mark. Guilt._

"_Only because we are marked by the same demon." I answered and he laughed._

"_Yes, the very same demon."_

llllll

"They are coming." Crawford said allowed and Yasumi, who was by his side nodded. Behind them was the helicopter and inside was Lupus, ready to leave when they had to. "We didn't find the morph, did we?"

"We did." The woman answered and the taller man looked at her quizzically.

"Oh?"

"Yes, but she is with some other team. So we no longer need to worry about her."

"I see." Came an impassive reply, he looked at his wrist watch and then looked ahead to see two faint silhouettes. "They're here." And then both figures came into view and stopped at the side of the helicopter. "You're late."

"We had a little people to take care of." Schuldig answered in between pants. When are we leaving?"

"After a certain event." The American replied and looked at his watch again.

"Event?" Ran asked confused. Then a ticking sound came into his ear. He became even more dazed. He didn't even understand why he was tied up in the first place and now this? No one seemed to wasn't to explain the situation at this time and Schuldig hasn't said anything since they were in that room. So what now?

"5… 4… 3…2… 1." Crawford whispered

Boom.

The island exploded once in the middle, then one and the left and right. Dust started to make it's way around and the boat was swaying from side to side at the impact.

"I hope Winters was in that explosion." Yasumi remarked and Schuldig nearly laughed but probably couldn't due to the fact that the bat was still moving and swaying frantically. "Weiss really does have a way with explosives."

Weiss?

"You mean-" before the young red head could finish his sentence Yasumi nodded and everything began to settle and calm.

"I'll fill you in with the details later." She answered and got into the helicopter first. And the rest followed soon after.

llllll

"They are getting away, sir." A woman remarked. Face covered by darkness and she was regarding the man who sat relaxed on his chair.

"I know."

"You won't be able to stop them, will you sir?" She asked.

"Can't even if I tried." He answered, calm, taking a sip from the red wine he had on his hand. "We will get them later."

"Yes sir." With that she vanished. And he was left alone in the hollowness of his own abyss.

_Tsujiimoto. Fujimiya_

TBC…

I would like to apologize for this chapter was REALLY weird and blah. Sorry, sorry! But if you enjoyed that would be great. -smiley-

Review please!


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